While TVS Motor Co sold 273,063 iQubes, which constitutes a lead of 13,030 units over the Bajaj Chetak's 260,033 units, Bajaj Auto wins in the overall e2W stakes because it also sold 17,150 Yulu e-bikes to take its cumulative e-two-wheeler total to 277,183 units in FY2025 – 4,120 units more than TVS.
16 Apr 2025 | 6441 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
Legacy two-wheeler OEMs Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor Co, which entered the electric two-wheeler market in the same month (January 2020), continue to be engaged in an intense battle for supremacy. As per the FY2025 wholesales numbers released by industry body SIAM, Bajaj Auto which sold a total of 277,183 ...
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Legacy two-wheeler OEMs Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor Co, which entered the electric two-wheeler market in the same month (January 2020), continue to be engaged in an intense battle for supremacy. As per the FY2025 wholesales numbers released by industry body SIAM, Bajaj Auto which sold a total of 277,183 electric two-wheelers has gone ahead of TVS Motor Co (273,063 e2Ws) in FY2025 by 4,120 units.
The twist in the tale is that while TVS Motor Co sold 273,063 iQube scooters in FY2025, which is a lead of 13,030 units over the 260,033 Bajaj Chetaks sold, Bajaj Auto also sold 17,150 units of Yulu e-bikes which takes its combined e-two-wheeler total to 277,183 units (see FY2025’s 12-month sales data table below).
Though TVS sold more iQubes than the Bajaj Chetak in FY2025, Bajaj Auto wins the e2W numbers battle because it also sold 17,150 Yulu e-bikes.
Founded in 2017, Yulu is India’s largest shared electric mobility company which provides urban Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad and Vadodara. Yulu sources its EVs from Bajaj Auto, which is one of the earliest strategic investors in Yulu in 2019 and co-designs as well as manufactures them for shared micro-mobility operations like short intra-city commutes, last-mile deliveries and business requirements.
iQUBE AND CHETAK HIT BEST-EVER FISCAL SALES: OVER 250,000 UNITS EACH
Both TVS and Bajaj Auto have delivered a stellar market performance in FY2025, each registering over 200,000-unit sales for the first time in a fiscal year. While TVS’s sale of 273,063 iQubes is a 44% YoY increase (FY2024: 189,896 iQubes), Bajaj Auto sold 260,033 Chetaks, which is marks 125% YoY growth (FY2024: 115,627 units). In terms of additional units sold in FY2025 compared to FY2024, TVS sold 83,167 iQubes versus Bajaj Auto’s 144,406 units.
As a result, the sales gap between the TVS iQube and the Bajaj Chetak in FY2025 was 13,030 units, hugely reduced from the considerable difference of 74,269 units the two e-scooters had in FY2024.
As the 12-month data table for the two e-scooters above depicts, both companies registered their best-ever sales in the festive month of October 2024 – 29,127 TVS iQubes and 30,644 Bajaj Chetaks. It was an evenly fought battle as the monthly sales stats indicate. In FY2025, the TVS iQube outsold the Bajaj Chetak over six months (May, July, August, September 2024, January and February 2025) while Chetak fared better than the iQube in the other six months of FY2025.
The TVS iQube, which is currently retailed with three options – 2.2kW, 3.4kW and 5.1kW – and has five variants, maintains a strong resonance in the market. On the marketing network front, TVS Moor Co currently has around 750 dealers and sub-dealers spanning over 450 cities across India. The company, which has ample manufacturing capacity on hand, is strategically expanding the iQube dealer network.
What has given Bajaj Auto fresh verve in FY2025 is the rollout of the new Chetak 2901, priced at Rs 96,000 in June 2024. This strategic move to drop below the Rs 100,000 pricing has helped the Bajaj EV address the sub-Rs 100,000 segment, which accounts for nearly 50% of the overall e-two-wheeler market. On December 20, 2024, Bajaj Auto expanded its Chetak model portfolio with the launch of the new 35 Series which comprises three variants: 3501 (Rs 127,000), 3502 (Rs 120,000) and 3503 with an enhanced 153km range. The Bajaj Chetak portfolio now spans four variants – 2903 (Rs 99,999), 3202 (Rs 115,000), 3502 (Rs 120,000) and 3501 (Rs 127,000), all ex-showroom Mumbai.
BRAND MATTERS
With stiff petrol prices and most Indian states offering plenty of incentives to accelerate electric mobility, both the Bajaj Chetak and TVS iQube should continue to see robust demand in the coming months, even as another legacy OEM – Honda – has just checked into the market with its Active:e and QC1 electric scooters, as has Suzuki with its e-Access, the electric avatar of the popular Access 125cc petrol scooter.
In an expanding marketplace which is witnessing a number of new products being introduced, what ticks the EV sales boxes for both TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto is their strong brand image, well-developed and innovative in-house R&D capability and also reliable aftersales support.
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