Ola leads the way as EV market recovers in July 2023

August has dawned and brings with it the news that sales of electric two-wheelers in India, have picked up again, albeit marginally. At 51,299 electric two-wheelers retailed in July 2023, sales are 11.55 percent better than June’s 45,984 units. 

The overall July 2023 retail sales number, which is sourced from the government’s VAHAN portal as of July 31 (10pm), should increase marginally as additional new vehicle registrations from across the country get factored in. 

Most OEMs log incremental month-on-month growth in July

A detailed look at the Vahan retail numbers reveals that most of the leading players have logged month-on-month growth, with their July sales bettering their June 2023 retails. The top seven OEMs, each having sold in excess of 1,000 units last month, account for 43,566 units or an overwhelming 85 percent of total sales in July 2023.

Leading the charge is market leader Ola Electric with 18,333 units, which is a 4 percent increase over June 2023’s 17,622 units and gives it a market share of 36 percent. TVS sold a total of 9,599 iQube e-scooters, up 22 percent on June’s 7,856 units. With this performance, cumulative sales of the TVS iQube have crossed the 1.5 lakh sales milestone in the domestic market since the e-scooter’s launch in January 2020.

In third place is Ather Energy which sold 6,198 units last month, a 35 percent improvement on June’s 4,596 units. Bajaj Auto, which has ramped up production of the Chetak scooter and is also expanding its network, sold 3,912 units, up 30 percent on June’s 3,002 units.

Okinawa Autotech, meanwhile, saw sales decline by 18 percent to 2,138 units. Ampere, with 1,343 units, saw a month-on-month decline of 16 percent. Hero MotoCorp’s EV subsidiary Vida, with 951 units sold, doubled its June performance with a 104 percent MoM increase in sales. This means that for the first time Vida sold more EVs than Hero Electric, which sold just 759 units in July, a decline of 33.18 percent.

Maturing of the Indian e-two-wheeler market

While the June 2023 sales were a harsh reality check for OEMs, the marginally improved retail sales in July 2023 point to a maturing of the electric two-wheeler market in India.

The fact that over the past two months, nearly 1 lakh buyers (97,283 to be exact) have chosen to purchase an electric two-wheeler, despite the reduced subsidy which has resulted in a higher price, indicates that the EV consumer is willing to spend more for an EV compared to a petrol-engined two-wheeler.

Given the likelihood of the FAME subsidy scheme not being extended, OEMs and EV buyers will have to contend with the fact that market dynamics will take over even as OEMs and their component and technology supplier ecosystem are hard at work to reduce developmental and product costs to enhance EV affordability compared to ICE two-wheelers.

Companies are also working on developing lower-cost versions of their popular EVs. For instance, it is learnt that TVS Motor Co is working on a low-cost iQube which should mean use of a smaller battery pack and possibly fewer features.