Electrifying performance

Electric two-wheeler sales notch past 2,75,000 units in H1 with ease. Ajit Dalvi has the details.

- Ajit Dalvi

India’s electric two-wheeler growth story is getting better, month on month. Overall retail sales crossed the 50,000unit mark for the first time in a month with 50,506 units in August 2022. But September retails have done even better with 51,784 units, up 2.53 percent, and a 16 percent improvement over July’s 44,614 units. To place this performance in perspective, April-September 2021 cumulative retails were 55,147 units, albeit in a pandemic-impacted time.

The good news about the segment doesn’t stop there. As per the e-two-wheeler retail numbers, revealed by Vinkesh Gulati, chairman of FADA India Research & Academy, cumulative retails for the first half of FY2023 (April-September 2022) are 2,77,910 units, a robust 404 percent growth over H1 FY2022’s 55,147 units.

October sales will see the 3,00,000-unit mark, currently 22,090 units away, being surpassed easily. This ‘low-hanging fruit’ of the EV industry is headed towards 6,00,000-plus sales this fiscal.

A look at the retail sales data table (at the bottom of this analysis) shows that of the 51,784 units sold, the top seven OEMs (with four-digit sales) account for 44,845 units or an overwhelming 86 percent of total sales. Similarly, on the cumulative front, eight players (with five-digit sales) — Okinawa Autotech, Ola Electric, Hero Electric, Ampere Vehicles, Ather Energy, TVS Motor Co, Bajaj Auto and Revolt Motorcycles — account for 2,41,298 units or 87 percent of total retails. Another 20-odd OEMs are fighting for a slice of India’s booming e-two-wheeler market.