Retail sales of electric scooters dropped in August with market leader Ola Electric witnessing the biggest decline in Vahan registrations.
Ola Electric, the largest electric two-wheeler maker in India, clocked registrations of 27,518 units in August, down 34% compared with 41,624 units in the previous month, according to data available on the government’s Vahan portal.
India’s second-largest electric two-wheeler maker, TVS Motor Company saw a 10% month-on-month drop with 17,547 e-scooter registrations in August compared to 19,641 in July.
Bajaj Auto’s EV registrations fell 5.7% to 16,726 units in August as against 17,745 units in July.
Hero MotoCorp-backed EV startup Ather Energy bucked the trend by clocking 10,843 EV registrations in August compared with 10,182 units in July, up 6%. Hero MotoCorp itself sold 4,745 electric scooters last month compared with 5,060 units in July.
Legacy players like TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp together sold over 39,018 e-scooters in August, compared with 38,361 EVs sold by Ola Electric and Ather, which are credited for starting the transition to electric mobility in the two-wheeler category.
EVs currently comprise only 5% of total two-wheeler sales in India and 20% of overall scooter sales.
To expand business, Ola Electric is eyeing the light-weight commuter motorcycle segment which constitutes 75% of India’s two-wheeler market.
On August 15, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led two-wheeler maker showcased a new range of electric motorcycles with prices starting from ₹74,999 and going up to ₹2,49,999. Roadster and Roadster X deliveries will commence from the fourth quarter of the ongoing fiscal while the Roadster Pro will be shipped in 2026.
Two-thirds of India’s 2W market consists of motorcycles, and with Ola’s entry into this segment, EV penetration is poised to further accelerate in the Indian 2W segment, Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola Electric, said at the time.
The Ola Electric CEO recently said trial production at the company’s cell gigafactory is going on currently and commercial production will start early next year. Ola claims its ‘Bharat 4680 cell’ is five times bigger than existing lithium-ion cylindrical cells used in electric vehicles.
Ola Electric has been awarded 20 GWh (gigawatt hour) capacity by the government under its PLI scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage. The company says it is eligible to receive incentives under the cell PLI scheme over a five-year period from the date of commissioning of the Ola Gigafactory in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu.
Incentives on electric two-wheelers were slashed to ₹10,000 per vehicle from April this year.
Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj in July said electric vehicles haven’t taken off like a rocket despite government subsidies.
“Despite the government pouring so much money into electric vehicle subsidies, at the end of the day, what do we have to show for it – 5% penetration in two-wheelers and somewhere between 1-2% in cars as far as electrics are concerned,” Bajaj said at the launch of world’s first CNG (compressed natural gas) powered motorcycle ‘Freedom’.
