February retails at 82,000 units are up 24% YoY; market leader Ola clocks best-ever monthly sales of 33,722 units, TVS sells 14,499 iQubes, and Bajaj Auto with 11,618 units outsells Ather Energy for fifth consecutive month. India E2-Wheeler Inc well set to hit the 900,000-unit mark in FY2024.
01 Mar 2024 | 26870 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
The year 2024 is a leap year and at the end of leap-year day on February 29, 2024 cumulative retail sales of electric two-wheelers for the first 11 months of the fiscal year 2024 had surpassed a record 800,000 units. At 806,753 units, sales have leaped by 26% (April 2022-February ...
This is an Autocar Pro Plus article. Subscribe to continue reading.
The year 2024 is a leap year and at the end of leap-year day on February 29, 2024 cumulative retail sales of electric two-wheelers for the first 11 months of the fiscal year 2024 had surpassed a record 800,000 units. At 806,753 units, sales have leaped by 26% (April 2022-February 2023: 641,893 units), and have raced past entire FY2023’s 728,247 units. This means India E2-Wheeler Inc has set a new benchmark, with March 2024 still to round off FY2024.
As per retail sales data available on the government of India’s Vahan website, at 6am on March 1, 2024, electric two-wheeler OEMs sold a total of 81,963 units in February 2024, 36 units more than in the 31-day January 2024 (81,927 units).
In a field comprising nearly 170 players, six OEMs continue to be the market toppers – Ola Electric, TVS Motor Co, Ather Energy, Bajaj Auto and the Greaves Electric-Ampere Vehicles combine. This quintet accounted for 71,428 units or 87 % of total retails in February 2024 and 663,437 units or 82% of total retails in the April 2023-February 2024 period. Interestingly, all of them other than Bajaj Auto have their manufacturing plants in Tamil Nadu.
OLA ELECTRIC: 33,722 units in February, 41 % market share
April 2023-February 2024: 275,485 units
Benefiting from a substantial price-reduction strategy (only for February 2024), market leader Ola Electric sold a record 33,722 e-scooters last month, beating its previous best (January 2024: 32,216 units) and taking its 11-month total to over 275,485 units in the ongoing fiscal. Its market share in February 2024 has risen to 41% and to 34% in the first 11 months of FY2024.
Ola, which is the first Indian EV maker to sell over 250,000 units in a single year, has a stranglehold on the segment with its massive lead over its rivals. With strong buying expected in the fiscal-ending month of March 2024, it will become the first Indian EV OEM cross the 300,000-unit milestone in a fiscal (FY2024) with ease.
On December 8, 2023 Ola began deliveries of its all-new S1 X+. Built on the Gen 2 platform, the S1 X+, which has a 3kWh battery, offers a certified range of 151km. Powered by a 6kW motor, the S1 X+ does the 0-40kph sprint in 3.3 seconds and can clock a top speed of 90kph.
Ola has targeted the ICE scooter market with its S1X in three variants – S1 X+, S1 X (3kWh), and S1 X (2kWh). In an effort to rev up sales, Ola reduced prices of up to Rs 25,000 – only for February 2024 – of the S1 line-up comprising the S1 Pro, S1 Air and S1 X+ (3kWh) scooters. An Ola Electric spokesperson said, “On the back of a strong vertically integrated in-house technology and manufacturing capabilities, we have been able to restructure costs and decided to pass on the benefits to customers. Priced equivalently to leading ICE scooters, we are confident that customers will now have no reason to buy an ICE scooter.”
February also saw Ola introduce a new 8-year/80,000km extended warranty for its entire portfolio at no additional costs. The EV OEM plans to expand its all-India service centre network from the existing 414 facilities to around 600 by April 2024.
TVS MOTOR CO: 14,499 units in February, 18% market share
April 2023-February 2024: 156,271 units
The iQube e-scooter continues to power TVS Motor Co’s sales momentum. In February 2024, sales of 14,499 units give the company a market share of 18%, and take its cumulative first 11-month total to 156,271 units (19.37% market share).
In CY2023, TVS sold a total of 166,190 iQubes, up a massive 252% YoY (CY2022: 47,185 iQubes) for a market share of 19.39 percent. Since January 2020, when it was launched, the TVS iQube has sold a total of 268,328 units till end-January 2o24. This level of sustained strong growth has helped increase the EV penetration level for the company.
Between April 2023 and January 2024, TVS has sold 26,29,016 two-wheelers in India, of which 268,328 units comprised the iQube which makes for an EV penetration level of 6 percent. The company, which expects two-wheeler EV sales in India to reach 30% market penetration by CY2025, is targeting a big jump in the contribution of EV sales to its overall volumes over the next two years.
The company, which has expanded its EV sales programme to Nepal and to Europe (from January 2024), is understood to be plotting a series of new EVs targeted at different customer segments with a complete portfolio offering between 5 to 25 kilowatts.
BAJAJ AUTO: 11,618 units in February, 14% market share
April 2023-February 2024: 88,331 units
Pune-based Bajaj Auto, which entered the EV market in January 2020 (just like TVS), has retailed 11,618 Chetak e-scooters in February 2024 and a total of 88,331 units in April 2023-February 2024. The February numbers are the company’s second best-monthly sales yet after November 2023 (11,833 units) and give Bajaj a 14% EV share in February, and 11% for April 2023-February 2024.
With its February 2024 sales, Bajaj Auto has outsold the No. 3 EV OEM Ather Energy (8,983 units) for the fifth month in a row. Bajaj’s last five-month sales of 53,794 units means it has sold 11,181 more e-scooters than Ather (42,613 units) in the same period. What has helped accelerate sales is ramped-up production and an expanded Bajaj Chetak network, currently in 141 cities across India, which is to be expanded to 250 cities by March 2024.
On December 1, 2023, Bajaj Auto launched the Chetak Urbane, which costs Rs 115,000 in its standard form, and Rs 121,000 for an additional ‘Tecpac’, which unlocks more features and performance. The company website lists the Chetak Urbane as having slightly higher range (113km) than the current Chetak (108km). However, for the Urbane, this is the IDC-certified range, while for the current Chetak Premium, 108km is its claimed real-world range (its IDC rating is 126km). The new Chetak Urbane gets the same 2.9kWh battery capacity as the current model. The Chetak Urbane utilises the same colour LCD display as the Premium variant. In standard form, the Urbane offers a 63kph top speed, and comes with only one riding mode – Eco. With the ‘Tecpac’ installed, top speed rises to 73kph and the user gets a Sport riding mode as well.
ATHER ENERGY: 8,983 units in February, 11% market share
April 2023-February 2024: 91,461 units
Bengaluru-based Ather Energy retailed 8,983 units in February 2024, which gives it an 11% market share. Between April 2023-January 2024, Ather’s cumulative sales of 91,461 also give it an 11% market share.
While Ather remains the No. 3 player on the cumulative sales front, it has lost the third-ranked position in month sales to a hard-charging Bajaj Auto for the past five months. While it was ahead of Bajaj in the first six months of FY2024, Ather’s October 2023-February 2024 retails of 42,613 units are below Bajaj Auto’s 53,794 for the same period.
Nevertheless, Ather is protecting its turf. Not only has it recently slashed the price of the 450S e-scooter by Rs 20,000 to Rs 109,000 but it also launched the new Apex 450 in early January. Priced at Rs 189,000, the Apex 450 uses the same 3.7kWh battery pack as the 450X but claimed IDC range has gone up to 157km, due to the new regenerative braking system. The company recently received a shot in the arm with early investor Hero MotoCorp set to increase its stake to 39.7% in January 2024.
Ather now plans to roll out its family scooter named Rizta on Ather Community Day – April 6, 2024. Expected to be priced between Rs 110,000 and under Rs 130,000, Ather will expand its market reach with the Rizta which will compete with the high-selling TVS iQube, Bajaj Chetak and Vida V1 Pro in the below-Rs 130,000 price category, which benefits from FAME 2 subsidies.
On the network front, Ather at present has over 175 experience centres across India and plans to add another 75 outlets to achieve a 250-showroom network by end March 2024. While it will refrain from going into deep rural areas, Ather Energy is confident that its upcoming products will strengthen its potential in Tier-2, Tier-3, and Tier-4 markets.
In terms of monthly sales for February 2024, fifth position goes to the Greaves Electric Mobility-Ampere Vehicle combine (2,606 units). Cumulative sales for the first 11 months of FY2024 are 51,889 units, which gives it a 6.43% share of the Indian e-two-wheeler market.
e2W RETAILS SET TO SURPASS A RECORD 900,000 UNITS IN FY2024
While the initial cost of an electric two-wheeler remains higher than its petrol-engined sibling, a growing number of consumers are making the transition to e-mobility due to the EV promise of wallet-friendliness in the long term. Petrol prices (Rs 106.29 on March 1 in Mumbai) have remained more or less unchanged since May 2022.
Two-wheeled EV manufacturers are also benefiting from sustained demand for last-mile deliveries from urban India as well as town and country, which is acting as a sales catalyst for e-two-wheelers used for e-commerce and food deliveries. This is thanks to the key advantage stemming from TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), particularly for fleet operators who clock plenty of kilometres each day. Like the aircraft industry, e-vehicles used for fleet operations make money the more they are on the road. It’s a plug-in-plug-out seamless operation for them – while 50% of the fleet would be out on the job, the other half is getting charged, ready to replace their parched brethren when they come in for their ‘juice’ of electricity.
CY2023 saw record retail sales of over 857,000 electric scooters and motorcycles in India, up 36%YoY. FY2023 also saw record retails of 728,247 two-wheeled EVs. Total sales of 806,753 in the first 11 months of FY2024 are already 78,506 units and 11% ahead of the FY2023 retails. Strong sales in the fiscal year-ending March 2024 – above 93,000 units – should power the FY2024 total to over 900,000 units, setting a new benchmark for this sub-segment of the Indian EV industry. Stay plugged in for more EV sales analyses.
ALSO READ:
Electric two-wheeler sales open 2024 on a strong note: over 81,000 units, up 26%
Over 3.4 million EVs on Indian roads, Maharashtra leads in 2Ws, PVs and buses, UP in 3Ws