Ola Electric is back at the No. 1 position in India’s electric two-wheeler market with sales of 24,330 units in January, thanks to strong numbers in the last three days of the month. The top 10 EV OEMs together retailed 92,500 units, constituting 94 percent of industry sales, which rose 19 percent year on year (YoY), as per the data on the Vahan portal (February 1, 2025, 7am).
Cumulative sales in the ongoing financial year’s first ten months (April 2024-January 2025) have soared 30 percent to 9,41,552 units.
In January, the top four EV OEMs – Ola, TVS, Bajaj and Ather – accounted for 82,307 EVs or 84 percent of sales. The real battle, though, is underway between the three podium players — Ola, TVS and Bajaj – each with sales of over 20,000 e-scooters.
Ola Electric: 24,330 units, still away from record highs
Ola Electric may have regained its No. 1 title, but its January sales were down 25 percent YoY. Even though it has sold 3,11,841 units in the ten months to January (up 29 percent YoY), it does not look like Ola can surpass its record 2024 sales of 4,07,547 units in FY2025. That’s because its numbers have dropped on a quarterly basis during the fiscal: compared to April-June’s 1,08,410 units, sales stood at 94,172 units in Q2 and 84,929 units in Q3, dragged down by December’s 13,794 units, down 55 percent YoY.
The company recently launched its Gen 3 scooters – S1 X, S1 X+, S1 Pro and the new flagship S1 Pro+ – with pricing starting at Rs 79,999 and going up to Rs 1.70 lakh. It has discontinued the S1 Air but will continue selling the Gen 2 models of the S1 X and S1 Pro at reduced prices.
Expect Ola to up the ante later this year when it starts delivering its new EVs – the S1 Z and the Gig, priced at an extremely affordable Rs 39,999 – launched at the end of November 2024. Deliveries of the S1 Z and Gig are slated to begin in around April-May.
TVS Motor Company: 23,788 units
So near yet so far: this sums up TVS Motor Company’s near-miss at claiming the top spot in January 2025. It lost by just 542 units as sales rose 55 percent to 23,788 units. TVS led the sales chart for the first four weeks from January 1-28, but Ola overtook it in the last three days of the month.
Nevertheless, TVS is a strong No. 2 in FY2025 as it retailed 1,87,880 iQubes, up 32 percent YoY. This month, it is set to cross the 2,00,000 sales milestone in a fiscal year for the first time. In the calendar year 2024, TVS had sold 2,20,472 iQubes.
With this performance, the TVS iQube had a market share of 24 percent in January and 20 percent for the first 10 months of FY2025. The company, which has ample manufacturing capacity, is strategically expanding the iQube dealer network, currently estimated at around 750 touchpoints across India. It expects EVs to comprise 30 percent of two-wheeler sales by 2025 and plans to roll out a new electric scooter before March.
TVS, the longstanding No. 2 OEM in this segment, is engaged in a fierce battle with Bajaj Auto to protect its turf. In the first 10 months of FY2025, Bajaj has surpassed TVS twice – September and December.
Bajaj Auto: 21,294 units
Bajaj Auto’s Chetak, which took the No. 1 e2W title in December 2024, , is back at No. 3 in January. However, growth continues to be strong for the Pune-based company as January’s 21,294 units are up 96 percent from a year ago, giving the Chetak a market share of 22 percent. In the 10 months to January, sales stood at 1,74,142 units, and the market share was 18.50 percent.
It is worth noting that Bajaj revealed an all-new Chetak in the final days of 2024 and that customers are sure to wait for the new 35 series models, which promise more range and a huge boot. That could perhaps be the reason why Bajaj has slipped down the order in January.
In CY2024, Bajaj Auto clocked its best-ever annual retail sales of 1,93,439 units for Chetak, a 169 percent YoY growth. Given the momentum, expect the Chetak to sell another 45,000 to 50,000 units in February and March, which would take the FY2025 sales to around 2,20,000 units, a new fiscal-year high.
Like rival Ola Electric, Bajaj Auto plans to introduce specially designed EVs for gig workers this year. “Gig workers don’t want a vehicle that shows them as gig workers; they want a family vehicle. We will have Chetak models which will be used for delivery, but they will be designed recognising the fact that gig workers need a family vehicle,” said Rakesh Sharma, executive director of Bajaj Auto, at a round table in Pune after the unveiling of the Chetak 35 series.
Ather Energy: 12,895 units
Ather Energy completes the quartet of OEMs that have sold over 1 lakh units each in the ongoing fiscal. Like Ola, TVS and Bajaj, Ather also achieved its best-ever annual sales last year. The company, whose best month was March 2024 (17,429 units), saw sales decline sharply in May and June but returned to five-figure numbers from July onwards.
In January, the company sold 12,895 units, up 37 percent YoY. Sales rose 25 percent to 1,03,294 units in FY2025’s first ten months, giving it an 11 percent market share. The Rizta family e-scooter is witnessing growing customer acceptance.
Greaves Electric Mobility: 3,611 units
Greaves Electric Mobility, which has a six-model portfolio of e-scooters, sold 3,611 units in January, up 53 percent YoY, which gives it a market share of 3.69 percent. The 10-month sales of 30,815 units are up 20 percent YoY, and the market share for that period is 3.27 percent.
GEM’s newest product – the Ampere Nexus – seems to be the key growth driver, and its management has confirmed that. In an investor conference call in November 2024, its executive director and CEO, K Vijaya Kumar, said, “We are registering very robust growth month on month, quarter on quarter, primarily based on our new product. The Nexus, which we launched two quarters before, is doing very well.”
Hero MotoCorp: 1,615 units
Hero MotoCorp sold 1,615 Vida e-scooters, an 8 percent YoY sales growth that comes after a poor performance in December (1,022 units, down 36 percent). This fiscal, October (7,353 units) and November (7,351 units) were the best months for Vida EV retail sales.
The company has started scaling up the brand presence for Vida, and its network now stands at 203 touchpoints, comprising 180 dealers across 116 cities. Also, Hero MotoCorp has around 2,500 charging stations in collaboration with Ather Energy, in which it is an early investor.
Growth Outlook for FY2025
With just two months left for FY2025 to come to a close, the electric two-wheeler industry will cross a million units for the first time in a fiscal year soon. At 9,41,552 units retailed between April 2024 and January 2025, it is just 6,949 units away from surpassing FY2024’s record sales of 9,48,501 units, which was an increase of 30 percent YoY (FY2023: 7,28,215 e2Ws).
There’s plenty for electric two-wheeler buyers to look forward to in CY2025. Not only has the market leader Ola rolled out new models, but two legacy Japanese OEMs operating in India have also entered the market.
Honda has launched the Activa e: and QC1 models at the recently concluded Auto Expo 2025. The Activa e:, which has two variants – standard (Rs 1.17 lakh) and RoadSync Duo (Rs 1.52 lakh). The QC1, Honda’s more budget-friendly EV, is priced at Rs 90,000 and is the most affordable Japanese electric scooter in India. It has a claimed top speed of 50kph, does the 0-40kph in 9.7 seconds and delivers a claimed IDC range of 80km. It’s early days yet for Honda but the Japanese major, which is the scooter market leader, has plans to lead the e2W market and has revealed plans to set up an electric motorcycle plant in India by 2028.
Suzuki has plugged in with the new e-Access, which is powered by a fixed 3.07kWh LFP battery and the company claims a 95km IDC range. This battery pack powers a swingarm-mounted motor making 4.1kW and 15Nm propelling the e-Access to a 71kph claimed top speed.
Clearly, there’s plenty of exciting action in this segment of zero-emission mobility. Stay plugged in as we bring you the latest reports and in-depth number-crunching analyses.