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Of the the total 1.94 million EVs sold across vehicle segments in India in 2024 (up 27 percent YoY), electric two-wheelers accounted for 1.14 million units (11,48,415) or 59 percent recording strong double-digit growth of 33 percent (CY2023: 8,60,418 units, up 36 percent YoY). Other than the last month of the year, retail sales of electric scooters and motorcycles maintained their strong double-digit growth throughout CY2024.
In a field comprising 220 players – up from 180 in 2023 – there are four OEMs which controlled the lion’s share of the market in 2024. Ola Electric, TVS Motor Co, Bajaj Auto and Ather Energy have all registered six-figure sales and also their own individual best-ever annual performances. The combined sales of this quartet add up to 9,47,623 units, which constitutes 82 percent of India’s total e-two-wheeler sales.
Here’s taking a closer look at the top six OEMs who were the movers and shakers of the Indian e-two-wheeler industry in CY2024.
Ola Electric
Market leader Ola Electric wrapped up 2024 with its best-ever annual retail sales of 4,07,547 units, up 52 percent YoY. Its 2024 count could have been much higher had it maintained the same growth trajectory it displayed in the first half of the year. Quarter on quarter, sales kept dropping. While Q1 CY2024 saw sales of 1,20,130 units, Q2 (1,08,407 units), Q3 (94,171 units) and Q4 (84,838 units) were all lower.
Nevertheless, expect Ola to regain its stride in 2025 when it starts delivering the new products, the S1 Z and the Gig. Deliveries of the S1 Z, S1 Z+, Gig and Gig1 are slated to begin only next year, around April-May.
Ola had opened CY2024 with 32,424 units (up 77 percent) in January, hit a high of 53,640 units in March (up 150 percent) and maintained stellar month-on-month growth right from April through to July until the sharp drop in August and September. Ola’s sales decline in August and September were attributed to be related to a large number of customer complaints about service deficiencies. However, following the recently listed company’s assurance that it had addressed 99.1 percent of the complaints to the satisfaction of its customers through its redressal mechanism, sales saw a strong revival in festive October to 41,775 units (up 75 percent). But November and December saw demand down again.
TVS Motor Company
TVS Motor Co retains its No. 2 position in CY2024 with total retails of 220,472 iQubes, marking the first time that it has surpassed the 2 lakh units sales milestone in a year. This constitutes a 32 percent YoY increase (CY2023: 1,66,580 units, up 252 percent) and translates into an additional 53,892 units sold, thereby ensuring that it kept a hard-charging Bajaj Auto at bay. The festival month of October 2024, which saw 30,180 iQubes being bought, was the best one for TVS in 2024. With this performance, TVS and its iQube have a market share of 19 percent in CY2024 – the same as in 2023.
The company, which has ample manufacturing capacity on hand, is strategically expanding the iQube dealer network. Currently estimated at around 750 touchpoints across India, TVS is increasing the network each month. The company, which expects two-wheeler EV sales in India to reach 30 percent market penetration by CY2025, plans to roll out a new electric scooter before the end of FY2025.
It will be among the moves that TVS, which is the longstanding No. 2 OEM in this segment and currently engaged in a fierce battle with Bajaj Auto, to protect its turf. In CY2023, TVS had sold a total of 1,66,580 iQubes – 94,639 units more than Bajaj Auto’s 71,941 Chetaks. That huge gap now stands significantly reduced in 2024 to 27,033 units. And Bajaj Auto had gone ahead of TVS in two of the past 12 months – September and December. This battle will continue in CY2025.
Bajaj Auto
Bajaj Auto, with best-ever annual retail sales of 193,439 Chetaks and 169 percent YoY growth (CY2023: 71,941 units), unseated CY2023’s No. 3 OEM Ather Energy to take the third rank on the podium. The company not only outsold Ather in each of the past 12 months but has come within striking distance of TVS, ending CY2024 27,033 units short of its legacy rival.
Like TVS, Bajaj also dispatched a record 28,360 Chetaks to its dealers in October, its best month yet. The company’s rapid rate of growth can be seen in the fact that in CY2024, an additional 1,21,498 Chetaks were sold compared to 2023. This is amply reflected in its market share which has more than doubled to 17 percent from 8 percent a year ago.
Also See: Bajaj Chetak outsells Ola, TVS in December 2024
Compared to 2023, Bajaj Auto sold an additional 1.21,498 Chetaks while TVS sold an additional 53,892 units. Both the TVS iQube and Bajaj Chetak were launched in January 2020. While the TVS iQube has clocked cumulative retails of 4,39,726 units over the 60 months since launch, the Bajaj Chetak has sold a total of 2,96,574 units, of which 65 percent have come in 2024.
Bajaj Auto’s speedy rate of growth is helping it to close the gap annually with TVS, which is the longstanding No. 2 OEM. This is a result of strong consumer demand for the Chetak, ramped-up production and an expanded Chetak retail sales network. Clearly, the last is not heard on the fierce battle between these OEMs for e-scooter supremacy.
In CY2025, like Ola which targeted the gig-worker market with its affordable Gig e-scooter, Bajaj Auto has plans to introduce specially designed EVs for gig workers. "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, Bajaj Auto, at a round table in Pune after the unveiling of the Chetak 35 series.
Ather Energy
Ather Energy, ranked No. 4, completes the quartet of OEMs to sell over one lakh units in 2024. Like Ola, TVS and Bajaj, Ather too 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 retails from June onwards.
Cumulative 2024 sales at 1,26,165 units are up 20 percent YoY (2023: 1,04,736 units, up 101 percent), which give Ather a market share of 11 percent of e2W Inc’s total retails units, down one percent from the 12 percent market share Ather had in 2023.
Also See: Updated Ather 450X, 450S to be launched on January 4
Hero MotoCorp
Hero MotoCorp, which is set to enter the electric motorcycle segment next year with a jointly developed midsize performance e-motorcycle with Zero Motorcycles of the USA, registered a near-three-fold YoY increase in its sales of Vida e-scooters in CY2024. At 43,693 units, this marks a 292 percent YoY increase, albeit on a low year-ago base (CY2023: 11,141 units). October (7,350 units) and November (7,344 units) were the best months for Vida EV retails in 2024. The much-improved performance is reflected in Hero MotoCorp’s growing market share, which has risen to 4 percent from 1 percent in 2023.
Like all the leading EV OEMs, Hero MotoCorp too is focusing on reducing product cost. In an earnings conference call in mid-August 2024, Niranjan Gupta, CEO, Hero MotoCorp had said: “We are working very aggressively, and on the powertrain side, to bring the costs down by technological improvements, by localization, obviously, by bringing scale. You will see that benefit coming out into our further launches as well. You'll see affordable products coming out later this year.”
That came in early December when Hero MotoCorp expanded its EV portfolio with the launch of the new Vida V2 Lite. The most affordable V2 Lite is an entirely new variant and comes with a small 2.2kWh battery pack that has a claimed 94km IDC range.
Greaves Electric Mobility
Greaves Electric Mobility (GEM), which currently has a portfolio of e-scooters comprising the Nexus, Primus, Magnus, Rio and Zeal EX, has registered its best-ever annual sales in CY2024: 35,058 units, up 46 percent YoY (CY2023: 24,042 units. This performance gives it a market share of 3.05 percent, slightly higher than the 2.79 percent it had in CY2023.
GEM’s newest product – the Ampere Nexus launched in end-April – seems to be the key driver of this growth, which has been confirmed by the management. In an investor conference call on November 7, 2024, K Vijaya Kumar, Executive Director and CEO, Greaves Cotton 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.”
GEM’s parent company Greaves Cotton, which has embarked on a strategic growth mission, is seeing GEM, its electric mobility division, deliver impressive results, generating revenues of Rs 175 crore in Q2 FY2025 and Rs 302 crore in H1 FY2025. This growth has been enabled by a focused approach on new product launches and a defined path toward profitability. GEM’s current e-two-wheeler sales and service network across India includes over 400 sales and service points.
Revolt Motors
One of the standout sales stories of CY2024 – and a revival of sorts for the company – has been the performance of Revolt Intellicorp (Revolt Motors), one of the few electric motorcycle manufacturers in India. Revolt Motors has been aggressively expanding its dealership network across India, which now stands at 168 including 14 new ones in the last few months.
The new RV1 and RV1+ along with the expanded network seem to have accelerated sales. Revolt’s CY2024 retails at 9,951 units are a robust 43 percent YoY increase (CY2023: 6,977 units) which translates into an additional 2,974 bikes sold last year. What’s more, the company, which was ranked 14th in CY2023 has risen four ranks to No. 10 position in CY2024. It may be recollected that Revolt’s best annual sales came in CY2022 when it had sold 14,910 units and had a 2.36 percent market share of the 6,31,397 electric two-wheelers sold that year.
As Honda Checks In ... 2025 Looks To Be An Exciting Year
The Indian electric two-wheeler industry will be looking forward to a new year with much optimism even though the subsidy levels have been watered down. Most of the leading OEMs like Ola, TVS, Bajaj Auto, Ather Energy and Greaves Electric Mobility have outlined plans to launch new products this year. This, along with the increased coverage of EV charging infrastructure, both private and public, will act as a catalyst for growth in CY2024.
These top five players though have brand-new competition coming their way in the form of the Honda Activa e and QC1, which mark the Japanese OEM’s entry into the Indian electric two-wheeler market. While Honda has not yet revealed the prices of the two EVs, pre-bookings are open for both of them.
All the top six OEMs – Ola (which has launched the S1 Z and Gig), TVS, Bajaj Auto, Ather Energy, Hero MotoCorp and Greaves Electric Mobility – are aggressively working to come with up ‘affordable’ or lower priced EVs, more so in the wake of consistently reducing subsidies. Clearly, there’s plenty of exciting new product action to be expected in 2025.
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