Ola, TVS Motor, Ather Feel The Pinch As Two-Wheeler EV Registrations Slip In Sept

Electric two-wheeler registrations fell marginally by 1.8% month-on-month (MoM) to 61,576 units in September as major brands in the category continued to struggle to regain the sales numbers witnessed prior to the FAME-II fiasco.

As per Vahan data on September 30, the month of August saw 62,683 units of two-wheeler EVs getting registered. In fact, the slight fall in registrations in September came after two consecutive months of increase.

Though Ola Electric maintained the top position among two-wheeler manufacturers, its escooter registrations declined over 3% MoM in September. The Bhavish Aggarwal-led electric mobility giant’s registrations stood at 18,138 units as against 18,716 units in August.

The slight slump in its vehicle registrations came despite the company starting the delivery of its new S1 Air escooter by the end of last month.

In July this year, Ola Electric’s vehicle registrations stood at 19,377 units.

Meanwhile, TVS Motor retained its second position in terms of registrations but saw a 3.6% drop in number of units to 14,917 from 15,473 in August.

Similarly, Ather Energy’s escooter registrations dropped 3.3% to 6,892 units in September from 7,126 units last month. 

As per a recent media report, the Bengaluru-based electric two-wheeler startup is aiming to double its market share in the escooter market to 25-30% by the end of FY24. Currently, Ather Energy has about 11% market share in this category.

On the other hand, Bajaj Auto has started to gain momentum in the two-wheeler EV market. Its vehicle registrations increased to 6,791 units in September from 6,573 units a month ago. The Indian two-wheeler major was just behind Ather Energy in terms of vehicle sales.

Meanwhile, after a significant slump since the beginning of this year, Hero Electric has also started seeing signs of recovery. Its escooter registrations rose 4.2% MoM to 816 units in September.

Hero Electric’s vehicle registrations stood at 783 units in August and 779 units in July, slipping from 6,400 units in January this year.

It must be noted that Hero Electric was among the companies which came under the government’s radar for misappropriation of FAME-II subsidies. The company, along with more than a dozen others, paid penalties to the Centre and faced other regulatory restrictions for this. 

Hero Electric, which previously sold low-range, non-premium escooters, also entered the premium escooter market with the launch of its A2B brand last month. 

Moving on, Jitendra EV, which saw a slump in its vehicle demand over the last few months, saw a rise in its registrations in September. The electric two-wheeler manufacturer, which was in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons over the last few months, including EV fire and violation of FAME-II norms, saw its vehicle registrations jump to 160 units in September from 24 units in August and 18 in July.

However, other major electric two-wheeler manufacturers such as Okinawa Autotech and Hero MotoCorp continued to witness a decline in EV sales. Okinawa Autotech’s vehicle registrations fell 13.8% MoM to 1,724 units in September, while Hero MotoCorp saw almost a 43% decline to 523 units.

Overall, EV sales, including all categories, fell to 1,23,087 units in September from 1,26,907 in August.