If India’s electrical automobile (EV) business got here inside a whisker of attaining a document 2 million (20 lakh) retail gross sales in CY2024, then it’s due to the large volumes offered by essentially the most inexpensive sub-segment – electrical two-wheelers. Of the the full 1.94 million EVs bought throughout automobile segments in India in 2024 (up 27% YoY), electrical scooters and bikes accounted for 1.14 million items (11,48,415) or 59% – up from the 56% share of 2023 – recording robust double-digit progress of 33% (CY2023: 860,418 items, up 36% YoY).
Aside from the final month of the yr, retail gross sales of electrical scooters and bikes maintained their robust double-digit progress all through CY2024.
Whereas the preliminary value of an electrical two-wheeler usually stays larger than its petrol-engine sibling (though some OEMs have rolled out inexpensive fashions in 2024), what’s enabling the transition from ICE to EV is the promise of wallet-friendliness in the long run. Petrol costs (Rs 103.49 a litre on December 31 in Mumbai) have remained roughly unchanged since Might 2022.
Together with demand for private mobility, e-two-wheeler producers are additionally benefiting from sustained demand for last-mile deliveries from city India in addition to city and nation, which is appearing as a gross sales catalyst for e-two-wheelers deployed for e-commerce and meals deliveries. That is due to the important thing benefit stemming from TCO (Complete Value of Possession), significantly for fleet operators who clock loads of kilometres every day. Just like the plane business, e-vehicles used for fleet operations earn a living the extra they’re on the street. It’s a plug-in-plug-out seamless operation for them – whereas 50% of the fleet could be out on the job, the opposite half is getting charged, prepared to switch their parched brethren after they are available for his or her ‘juice’ of electrical energy.
In a area comprising 220 gamers – up from 180 in CY2023 – there are 4 OEMs which have had the large’s share of the market in 2024. Ola Electrical, TVS Motor Co, Bajaj Auto and Ather Power have all registered six-figure gross sales and likewise their very own particular person best-ever annual performances. The mixed gross sales of this quartet add as much as 947,623 items, which constitutes 82% of India’s whole e-two-wheeler gross sales. Curiously, aside from Bajaj Auto – which Autocar Skilled accurately forecast a yr in the past that it was the darkish horse for all 2024 – all three OEMs have their manufacturing crops in Tamil Nadu.
In the meantime, Hero MotoCorp, Greaves Electrical Mobility, Revolt Motors, Bgauss Auto and Kinetic Inexperienced are additionally making their presence felt within the sector. Right here’s taking a better take a look at the highest six OEMs who have been the movers and shakers of the Indian e-two-wheeler business in CY2024.
OLA ELECTRIC
CY2024: 407,547 items, up 52% YoY / Market share: 35%
CY2023: 267,376 items, up 143% / Market share: 31%
Market chief Ola Electrical wrapped up 2024 with its best-ever annual retail gross sales of 407,547 items, up 52% YoY. On December 15, Autocar Skilled broke the information of Ola being the first EV maker to sell over 400,000 units in a calendar year. Its 2024 depend might have been a lot larger had it maintained the identical progress trajectory it displayed within the first half of the yr. Quarter on quarter, gross sales stored dropping. Whereas Q1 CY2024 noticed gross sales of 120,130 items, Q2 (108,407 items), Q3 (94,171 items) and This fall (84,838 items) have been all decrease than Q1 (see Ola’s 12-month gross sales information above).
Ola Electrical’s present mass-market S1 X portfolio is accessible in three battery configurations (2 kWh, 3 kWh, and 4 kWh), and priced at Rs 69,999, Rs 84,999, and Rs 99,999, respectively (ex-showroom Delhi). The corporate has additionally lately revised the costs of its S1 Professional, S1 Air, and S1 X+ to Rs 129,999, Rs 1,04,999, and Rs 89,999, respectively.
Nonetheless, count on Ola to up the ante in CY2025 when it begins delivering the brand new merchandise – the S1 Z priced at Rs 59,999 and the S1 Z+ which costs Rs 64,999 and the Ola Gig, a devoted product for the gig economic system, priced at a particularly inexpensive Rs 39,999, it launched in end-November. Deliveries of the S1 Z, S1 Z+, Gig and Gig1 are slated to start solely subsequent yr, round April-Might.
In the meantime, on Christmas Day 2024, Ola introduced that it had expanded its community to all of 4,000 shops throughout India. With 3,200 new shops co-located with service centres, this growth will make Ola’s EVs extra accessible throughout metros, Tier-2, and Tier-3 cities.
Ola had opened CY2024 with 32,424 items (up 77%) in January, hit a excessive of 53,640 items in March (up 150%) and maintained stellar month-on-month progress proper from April via to July till the sharp drop in August and September. Ola’s gross sales decline in August and September have been attributed to be associated to numerous buyer complaints about service deficiencies. Nonetheless, following the lately listed firm’s assurance that it had addressed 99.1% of the complaints to the satisfaction of its customers via its redressal mechanism, gross sales noticed a powerful revival in festive October to 41,775 items (up 75%). However November and December noticed demand down once more.
When it comes to market share, Ola, which had hit a low of 27% in September – down by 11 proportion factors from the 38% it commanded in March 2024 and July 2024 – regained some momentum in October with 30% however dropped to 24.54% in November. Cumulative 12-month sales-wise, Ola stays a yawning distance forward of the competitors. Its CY2024 gross sales (407,547 items, up 52% YoY) give it an total market share of 35%, up from 31% within the year-ago interval.
TVS MOTOR CO
CY2024: 220,472 items, up 32% YoY / Market share: 19%
CY2023: 166,580 items, up 252% / Market share: 19%
TVS Motor Co retains its No. 2 place in CY2024 with whole retails of 220,472 iQubes, marking the primary time that it has surpassed the 200,000-units gross sales milestone in a yr. This constitutes a 32% YoY improve (CY2023: 166,580 items, up 252%) and interprets into an extra 53,892 items bought, thereby guaranteeing that it stored a hard-charging Bajaj Auto at bay. The competition month of October 2024, which noticed 30,180 iQubes being purchased, was the very best one for TVS in 2024, adopted by the FY2024-ending March (26,644 items).
With this efficiency, TVS and the iQube have a market share of 19% in CY2024 – the identical as in CY2023. The TVS iQube is accessible with three battery choices – 2.2 kWh, 3.4 kWh and 5.1 kWh. The bottom variant (2.2kWh), with 75km real-world vary and a charging time of two hours, 45 minutes from 0-80% with a 950W charger, is essentially the most inexpensive iQube at Rs 84,999 (ex-showroom Mumbai). This mannequin together with the three.4 kWh iQube (Rs 119,000 and 100km vary) get a 5-inch TFT show with tow and theft alerts and turn-by-turn navigation.
The iQube ST line-up has two variants with 3.4kWh (Rs 138,500) and 5.1kWh (Rs 185,400). Whereas the ST 3.4 variant has a claimed real-world vary of 100km, the range-topping ST 5.1 variant has the biggest battery capability of any Indian electrical scooter and a real-world vary of 150km on a single cost. The iQube ST 5.1 additionally has a better 82kph high pace, and the claimed charging time is 4 hours and 18 minutes from 0 to 80 p.c.
The corporate, which has ample manufacturing capability readily available, is strategically increasing the iQube supplier community. Presently estimated at round 750 touchpoints throughout India, TVS is growing the community every month. The corporate, which expects two-wheeler EV gross sales in India to succeed in 30% market penetration by CY2025, plans to roll out a brand new electrical scooter earlier than the tip of FY2025.
It will likely be among the many strikes that TVS, which the longstanding No. 2 OEM on this section and presently engaged in a fierce battle with Bajaj Auto, to guard its turf. In CY2023, TVS had bought a complete of 166,580 iQubes – 94,639 items greater than Bajaj Auto’s 71,941 Chetaks. That massive hole is now stands sizeably lowered in CY2024 to 27,033 items. And Bajaj Auto had gone forward of TVS in two of the previous 12 months – September and December. The battle will proceed in CY2025.
BAJAJ AUTO
CY2024: 193,439 items, up 169% YoY / Market share: 17%
CY2023: 71,941 items, up 235% / Market share: 8%
Bajaj Auto, with best-ever annual retail gross sales of 193,439 Chetaks and 169% YoY progress (CY2023: 71,941 items), unseated CY2023’s No. 3 OEM Ather Power to take the third rank on the rostrum. The corporate not solely outsold Ather in every of the previous 12 months however has come inside biting vary of TVS, ending CY2024 27,033 items wanting its legacy rival.
Like TVS, Bajaj additionally dispatched a document 28,360 Chetaks to its sellers in October, its finest month but. The corporate’s speedy fee of progress could be seen in the truth that in CY2024, an extra 121,498 Chetaks have been bought in comparison with CY2023. That is amply mirrored in its market share which has greater than doubled to 17% from 8% a yr in the past.
On December 20, Bajaj Auto expanded its Chetak mannequin portfolio with the launch of the brand new 35 Sequence which contains three variants: 3501 (Rs 127,000), 3502 (Rs 120,000) and 3503. The highest-spec 3501 variant has a touchscreen TFT console with smartphone connectivity, Google Maps navigation, doc storage, and security options like geofencing. The 3501 is the one variant which will get a key-fob and a lockable glovebox in entrance. The 3502 has related options and a TFT albeit it is not a touchscreen unit and borrowed from the outgoing top-spec Chetak 3201. The 3502 and 3503 miss out on a lockable glovebox and get two open cubbies. Moreover, the 3503 additionally misses out on a entrance disc brake and will get drum brakes at each ends.
The battle between Bajaj Auto and TVS has turned intense. In comparison with CY2023, Bajaj Auto bought an extra 121,498 Chetaks whereas TVS bought an extra 53,892 items. Each the TVS iQube and Bajaj Chetak have been launched in January 2020. Whereas the TVS iQube has clocked cumulative retails of 439,726 items over the 60 months since launch, the Bajaj Chetak has bought a complete of 296,574 items, of which 65% have are available CY2024 itself.
Bajaj Auto’s speedy fee of progress helps it to shut the hole yearly with TVS, which is the longstanding No. 2 OEM. It is a results of robust shopper demand for the Chetak, ramped-up manufacturing and an expanded Chetak retail gross sales community. Clearly, the final isn’t heard on the fierce battle between these OEMs for e-scooter supremacy.
In CY2025, like Ola which is focused the gig-worker market with its inexpensive Gig e-scooter, Bajaj Auto has plans to introduce specially designed EVs for gig workers. “Gig staff do not desire a automobile that exhibits them as gig staff – they need a household automobile. We may have Chetak fashions which will probably be used for supply however they are going to be designed recognising the truth that gig staff want a household automobile,” mentioned Rakesh Sharma, government director, Bajaj Auto, at a spherical desk in Pune after the disclosing of the Chetak 35 collection.
ATHER ENERGY
CY2024: 126,165 items, up 20% YoY / Market share: 11%
CY2023: 104,736 items, up 101% / Market share: 12%
Sensible e-scooter maker Ather Power, ranked No. 4, completes the quartet of OEMs to promote over 100,000 items in CY2024. Like Ola, TVS and Bajaj, Ather too achieved its best-ever annual gross sales final yr. The corporate, whose finest month was March 2024 (17,429 items), noticed gross sales decline sharply in Might and June however returned to five-figure retails from June onwards (see retail gross sales information above).
Cumulative January-December 2024 gross sales at 126,165 items are up 20% YoY (CY2023: 104,736 items, up 101%), which give Ather a market share of 11% of e2W Inc’s whole retails items, down one p.c from the 12% market share Ather had in CY2023.
The Rizta family e-scooter (pictured above left) launched in April at a beginning worth of Rs 109,999 (Rizta S) via to Rs 149,999 (Rizta Z) is witnessing rising buyer acceptance. Whereas the S model (2.9 kWh battery) has a 123km vary, the Z variant (3.7 kWh) has a 160km vary. The Rizta’s highlights embrace the biggest two-wheeler seat in India and space for storing aplenty. The Ather Rizta lately bagged Autocar India’s Electrical Two-Wheeler of the Yr 2025 award.
In an effort to rev up demand for its merchandise, Ather is enterprise new customer-friendly initiatives. In October, it launched Ather Care Service plans which supply free periodic upkeep, reductions on wear-and-tear half replacements, and value-added companies akin to ExpressCare and sharpening.
On November 22, Ather Power launched ‘Eight70 Guarantee’ for its 450 collection and Rizta e-scooters, in collaboration with Reliance Basic Insurance coverage. This addresses clients’ issues concerning long-term battery well being, efficiency and substitute prices by offering a number of advantages together with protection for as much as 8 years or 80,000km, 70% battery well being assurance, full protection towards manufacturing defects and failures; no higher restrict on declare quantities, and no declare rejection as a result of deep discharge of battery cells when the scooter is left uncharged or in an idle state over an prolonged time period. In line with Ather’s Chief Enterprise Officer Ravneet Singh Phokela, “Battery sturdiness is a vital issue for EV consumers. We frequently hear about clients’ apprehensions concerning the longevity and substitute prices of the batteries of their electrical scooters. Understanding this concern, now we have launched our new Eight70 Guarantee, which can remove any worries and issues EV consumers could have concerning the long-term well being of their scooter batteries.”
HERO MOTOCORP
CY2024: 43,693 items, up 292% YoY / Market share: 4%
CY2023: 11,141 items, up 101% / Market share: 1%
Hero MotoCorp, which is set to enter the electric motorcycle segment next year with a collectively developed midsize efficiency e-motorcycle with Zero Bikes of the USA, registered a near-three-fold YoY improve in its gross sales of Vida e-scooters in CY2024. At 43,693 items, this marks a 292% YoY improve, albeit on a low year-ago base (CY2023: 11,141 items). October (7,350 items) and November (7,344 items) have been the very best moths for Vida EV retails in 2024. The much-improved efficiency is mirrored in Hero MotoCorp’s rising market share, which has risen to 4% from 1% in 2023.
Hero MotoCorp has began scaling up model presence for Vida and its community now stands at 203 touchpoints comprising 180 sellers throughout 116 cities. The corporate, which has the V1 Plus and V1 Professional EVs, plans to increase its portfolio – inside the mid- and inexpensive section – inside FY2025. And it already has round 2,500 charging stations in collaboration with Ather Power, during which Hero MotoCorp is an early investor.
Like all of the main EV OEMs, Hero MotoCorp too is specializing in decreasing product value. In an earnings convention name in mid-August 2024, Niranjan Gupta, CEO, Hero MotoCorp had mentioned: “We’re working very aggressively, and on the powertrain facet, to convey the prices down by technological enhancements, by localization, clearly, by bringing scale. You will notice that profit popping out into our additional launches as nicely. You will see inexpensive merchandise popping out later this yr.”
That got here in early December when Hero MotoCorp expanded its EV portfolio with the launch of the new Vida V2. The Vida 2 is basically an evolution of the V1 vary that the world’s largest ICE two-wheeler started its electrical mobility journey in October 2022. The Vida V2 is accessible in three variants: Lite (Rs 96,000), Plus (Rs 115,000) and Professional (Rs 135,000). Essentially the most inexpensive V2 Lite is a completely new variant and comes with a small 2.2kWh battery pack that has a claimed 94km IDC vary. It additionally has a decrease 69kph high pace in comparison with the Plus and Professional variants, which have high speeds of 85kph and 90kph, respectively. Solely two driving modes can be found on the V2 Lite – Journey and Eco – however the remainder of the feature-set is similar to the opposite two, together with the 7-inch touchscreen TFT show.
GREAVES ELECTRIC MOBILITY
CY2024: 35,058 items, up 46% YoY / Market share: 3%
CY2023: 24,042 items, up 45% / Market share: 2.79%
Greaves Electrical Mobility (GEM), which presently has a six-model portfolio of e-scooters comprising the Nexus (pictured above), Primus, Magnus LT/EX (100km+ vary), Ampere Magnus Particular, entry degree Rio Li/La Plus and Zeal EX, has registered its best-ever annual gross sales in CY2024: 35,058 items, up 46% YoY (CY2023: 24,042 items. This efficiency offers it a market share of three.05%, barely larger than the two.79% it had in CY2023.
GEM’s latest product – the Ampere Nexus launched in end-April – appears to be the important thing driver of this progress, which has been confirmed by the administration. In an investor convention name on November 7, 2024, Ok Vijaya Kumar, Govt Director and CEO, Greaves Cotton mentioned: “We’re registering very strong progress month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter based on our new product. The Nexus, which we launched two quarters earlier than is doing very nicely.”
Focused at households, the Ampere Nexus has been designed and developed in-house on the Ranipet facility in Tamil Nadu. Geared up with a 3 kWH LFP battery, the Nexus has a claimed high pace of 93kph and a licensed vary of 136km. Bought in two variants, costs begin at Rs 110,000 (ex-showroom) and go as much as Rs 120,000.
GEM’s mother or father firm Greaves Cotton, which has launched into a strategic progress mission, is seeing GEM, its electrical mobility division, ship spectacular outcomes, producing revenues of Rs 175 crore in Q2 FY2025 and Rs 302 crore in H1 FY2025. This progress has been enabled by a targeted method on new product launches and an outlined path towards profitability. GEM’s present e-two-wheeler gross sales and repair community throughout India consists of over 400 gross sales and repair factors.
Greaves Cotton, which additionally has a presence within the electrical three-wheeler market underneath the Ele, Greaves and Electra manufacturers, is trying to up the ante within the EV world. The corporate has introduced plans to record its EV arm – Greaves Electrical Mobility – in CY2025. The purpose is to raise Rs 1,000 crore through a fresh issue of shares. Round Rs 83 crore will probably be invested in establishing an in-house battery pack meeting plant at its Ranipet plant in Tamil Nadu, which went on stream in November 2021.
REVOLT MOTORS
CY2024: 9,951 items, up 43% YoY / Market share: 0.86%
CY2023: 6,977 items, down 53% YoY / Market share: 0.81%
One of many standout gross sales tales of CY2024 – and a revival of types for the corporate – has been the efficiency of Revolt Intellicorp (Revolt Motors), one of many few electrical bike producers in India. The corporate, which earlier had solely the 4.1kW RV400 priced at Rs 116,800 (on-road Mumbai) and the RV400 BRZ, has expanded its portfolio with the launch of the RV1 and RV1+ ‘commuter’ electric motorcycles, priced at Rs 84,990 and Rs 99,990 respectively in october. The RV1 comes with two battery choices – 2.2 kWh battery providing as much as 100km vary, and a 3.24 kWh battery with 160km vary.
Revolt Motors has been aggressively increasing its dealership community throughout India, which now stands at 168 together with 14 new ones in cities akin to Hubli (Karnataka), Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Katihar (Bihar), Maheshkhunt (Bihar), Khagaria (Bihar), Nawanshahr (Punjab), Kannauj (UP), Satara (Maharashtra), Sattur (Tamil Nadu), Mayiladuthurai (Tamil Nadu), Bhilwara (Rajasthan), Warangal (Telangana), Balasore (Odhisa), and Bulandshahr (Uttar Pradesh).
The brand new RV1 and RV1+ together with the expanded community appear to have accelerated gross sales. Revolt’s CY2024 retails at 9,951 items are a strong 43% YoY improve (CY2023: 6,977 items) which interprets into an extra 2,974 bikes bought final yr. What’s extra, the corporate, which was ranked 14th in CY2023 has risen 4 ranks to No. 10 place in CY2024. It might be recollected that Revolt’s finest annual gross sales got here in CY2022 when it had bought 14,910 items and had a 2.36% market share of the 631,397 electrical two-wheelers bought that yr.
AS HONDA CHECKS IN . . . CY2025 BIDS FAIR TO BE AN EXCITING YEAR
Watt lies forward for the Indian e2W business? Honda is the most recent ICE legacy OEM and the primary Japanese two-wheeler main to plug into electrical avenue.
The Indian electrical two-wheeler business will probably be wanting ahead to a brand new yr with a lot optimism though the subsidy ranges have been watered down. A lot of the main OEMs like Ola, TVS, Bajaj Auto, Ather Power and Greaves Electrical Mobility have outlined plans to launch new merchandise this yr. This, together with the elevated protection of EV charging infrastructure, each personal and public, will act as a catalyst for progress in CY2024.
These high 5 gamers although have brand-new competitors coming their means within the type of the Honda Activa e and QC1 revealed on November 27, which mark the Japanese OEM’s entry into the Indian electrical two-wheeler market. Whereas Honda has not but revealed the costs of the 2 EVs, contemplating that it has already achieved 99% localisation, one can count on the corporate to give you disruptive pricing to unsettle the competitors.
All the highest six OEMs – Ola (which has launched the S1 Z and Gig), TVS, Bajaj Auto, Ather Power, Hero MotoCorp and Greaves Electrical Mobility – are aggressively working to come back with up ‘inexpensive’ or decrease priced EVs, extra so within the wake of persistently decreasing subsidies. Clearly, there’s loads of thrilling new product motion to be anticipated in CY2025. So, keep plugged in to Autocar Skilled’s gross sales analyses for in-depth number-crunching.
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