May sees electric two-wheeler sales revving up, led by Ola Electric

Electric two wheeler registrations have recovered in just a month from the adverse impact of the subsidy reduction from April 1 and are rising again.

Led by Ola Electric, overall electric two wheeler sales have gone up by around 12 per cent in May over the previous month when registrations dropped to their lowest in the calendar year to 63, 435 vehicles.     
 

In March-end, the government launched the Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) for a period of only four months — replacing the FAME 2 subsidy scheme — but capped the subsidy to only Rs 10,000 per vehicle which is half of what was offered under the previous scheme.  As a result, most companies were impelled to increase the prices of their vehicles between Rs 5,000-10,000 and this impacted overall sales in April.  
 

 

Ola Electric continues to be ahead of its competitors. In two  consecutive months {April and May}, it has won more than half of the total market share with registrations hitting 35,557 vehicles in May. 
 

The company has been pushing volumes ahead of its IPO which is awaiting clearance by Sebi. In May, Ola Electric also started delivery of its volume model Ola S1 X which is being offered at Rs 69,999 ex-show room, an offer that has helped it maintain its numbers.      
 

Even the other top players -TVS, Bajaj Auto and Ather - have all seen an uptick in their registrations in May over the previous month and collectively (including Ola) control over 90 per cent of the market. For example, TVS, after faltering in April, saw its registrations go up by a substantial 44 per cent to reach 11, 195 vehicles in May over April.
 

Even Ather Energy, despite the fact that delivery of its much-anticipated family electric scooter will start only in June, has seen its registrations go up by 39 per cent in May month-on-month.
 

But electric vehicle companies say they are poised for even better things. 
 

They expect the industry to hit over 1 lakh registrations a month from the festival season, provided the EMPS is extended beyond the four months.   
 

“If EMPS is extended, we will see a big kick off in the festive season as there will be more models in the market to choose from and a certain stability for customers about price,” said a senior executive of a leading scooter maker. “We reckon the industry will hit 1 lakh plus month-on-month and should hit 1.3-1.4 million by the end of the financial year.”
 

But if the EMPS is not extended, he added, volumes would not grow beyond the 70,000-80,000 plus vehicles range.