With 91,243 units sold, November 2023 was the best month for electric two-wheeler OEMs after the FAME-II subsidy was slashed in June.
Cumulative January-November 2023 sales at 7,83,128 units are up 38 percent year-on-year and already a 24 percent improvement over CY2022’s sales of 6,31,461 units, with December still to add to the CY2023 tally. Expect the industry to surpass the 8.5 lakh units mark this year and set a new benchmark.
The bulk of the sales are cornered by the top 10 OEMs, each with over 10,000 units. These OEMs account for 6,98,623 units in January-November 2023 or 90 percent of total EV two-wheeler sales.
Only two players – Ola Electric (2,36,485 units) and TVS Motor Co (1,53,964 units) – have sales in excess of 1 lakh units. Ather Energy (97,900 units) is just 2,100 units shy of the six-digit mark and will likely surpass that in December.
Market leader Ola Electric has benefited hugely from its refreshed S1 series of e-scooters and continues to scale new monthly highs. The company has sold a record 2,36,485 units in the first 11 months of 2023, averaging 21,498 units a month. November retails at 29,808 units were its best monthly sales yet. Thanks to its recently launched relatively low cost products, Ola is the only OEM to have surpassed its May 2023 total (28,728 units), a month in which most EV players hit monthly highs due to buyers rush to avoid paying more from June to the slashed-by-25 percent FAME subsidy. Ola currently has a commanding 30 percent share of the market.
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TVS Motor Co, with 153,964 units, has a 19.66 percent share of the EV pie and that too with a single product – the iQube. In November, TVS sold 18,935 iQubes, its second-best monthly sales.
In third place, in terms of cumulative sales, is Bengaluru-based smart e-scooter maker Ather Energy with 97,900 units, which gives it a 12.50 percent share. However, with an aggressive Bajaj Auto hard on its heels, Ather is getting ready to add to its portfolio with the launch of the new 450 Apex as well as a more family friendly e-scooter in 2024.
Bajaj Auto, another legacy player with a single product, the Chetak, is making news with its rising sales. The company outsold Ather in October (Bajaj: 9,052 units / Ather: 8,415 units) as well as in November (Bajaj: 11,681 units / Ather: 9,171 units). Cumulative January-November sales of 61,311 units give Bajaj a market share of 7.82 percent albeit for November per se its share rose to 13 percent, quite a jump from the 4 percent it had at the start of the year in January 2023.
The company, which launched the new Chetan Urbane with 113km range on December 1, is looking to ramp up production as well as expand its network of exclusive Chetak showrooms. Expect Bajaj Auto to be among the EV newsmakers in the months to come.
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At No. 5 position is the Greaves Cotton-owned Ampere Vehicles with 45,528 units. The company seems to be seeing good traction for its Primus e-scooter launched in February. Ampere’s sales, when combined with Greaves Electric’s 21,049 units, gives the entity a total sales figure of 63,577 units (which also helps it go above Bajaj Auto).
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Next up is Okinawa Autotech with 30,644 units. Considering the company had opened CY2023 with 4,408 units in January, it is clearly feeling the heat of a big sales slow down.
It’s a similar story with Hero Electric. With 29,396 units, Hero Electric who used to be the the industry leader is now ranked seventh and has a 3.75 percent share of the market. After a strong start to the year, sales have fallen to three-digit figures since July.
Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp, the third legacy player in the EV space, notched its best-ever monthly sales of 3,031 units in November under its Vida sub-brand and clocked cumulative sales of 9,523 units.
