Hero Electric, Okinawa Autotech and Ather Energy lead the segment while there are several newcomers entering the fray
The two wheeler segment in India has been posting de-growth over the past several months. Rising fuel prices, increasing input costs and an otherwise challenged economic situation both among rural and urban buyers have taken their toll on petrol scooter sales. The same cannot be said about the electric two wheeler segment that has been seeing sales increase by leaps and bounds over the past several months.
Taking the first 11 months of this calendar year into account, electric two wheeler sales have increased 355 percent YoY. Sales which had stood at 25,598 units in the same period of 2020 surpassed the 1,00,000-unit mark for the first time. A look at the attached table shows that sales of electric two wheelers have had a steady growth over the January to November 2021 period, except for the months of May and June when the second wave of the pandemic struck.
Total sales which had stood at 4,885 units in January 2021 increased to 6,001 units in February and there on to 10,360 units in March 2021. Activity picked up again in this segment in July 2021 with 13,122 units sold to 21,112 units in October 2021 while sales reached a peak at 1,16,669 units in November 2021.
Hero Electric, Okinawa and Ather
Three top players in this segment are Hero Electric, Okinawa and Ather Energy. Hero Electric has sold a total of 40,319 units during the past calendar year with Flash, Optima, Photon, NYX and Dash leading the sales graph. This was approximately 400 percent growth over 8,111 units sold in the calendar year of 2020.
Hero Electric, which currently commands a 34.56 percent market share, now targets 1 million unit sales in the next 5 years while expansion of product portfolio and increase in sales outlets is also on the cards. Hero AE-47 electric motorcycle is also planned for launch in the coming year expected to be priced between Rs 1.3-1.5 lakh. The company has also entered into an alliance with Charzer, a Bangalore-based EV charging start-up, with plans to set up 1,00,000 charging stations in a year.
At No. 2 was Okinawa Autotech with sales of 23,899 units in the Jan-Nov 2021 period. The company has also noted a steady increase in demand over the past 11 months to 5,421 units sold in November 2021 commanding a market share of 20.48 percent. Okinawa offers a range of low-speed and high-speed electric scooters that are priced from Rs 61,998 to Rs 82,995 for low-speed models among which are Okinawa R30, Lite and Dual. The high speed models are priced from Rs 64,797 to Rs 105,990 for the Ridge+, Praise Pro and iPraise+. Plans are to invest around Rs 200-250 crore on a new plant in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan with a target to achieve 100 percent localization by the end of FY2022.
Ather Energy, another leading electric two wheeler maker in India has seen total sales of 14,152 units in calendar year 2021. Commanding a market share of 12.13 percent, the Bengaluru based e-scooter manufacturer has only two models on offer in India that include the Ather 450X and 450 Plus. Sales in September, October and November 2021 surpassed the 2,000 unit mark with a steady MoM increase. The company recently commissioned another plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, even as its first plant, opened early this year, is running at full capacity.
Pure EV, Ampere, TVS
Electric two wheeler makers, Pure EV, Ampere and TVS Motors followed in quick succession. Pure EV (9,363 units) and Ampere (9,155 units) have been posting steady growth over the past 11 months. TVS iQube and Bajaj Chetak have only been offered for sale in a few cities across the country.
Lower down the order, there are several newcomers to this segment that have also seen increasing sales over the past few months. This pace is set to increase with the Government of India offering several subsidies in the form of FAME II, while state governments are also extending various schemes and subsidies to draw the attention of buyers to this clean, green segment.
However, it may still be pointed out that the electric two wheeler segment is still in its nascent stage. In Chinese markets, electric two wheelers account for 97 percent of the world’s e-scooter fleet while in India it makes up for less than 1 percent of total sales. With increased emphasis on charging infrastructure, established e-vehicle makers along with several startups are expecting this to change dramatically with more emphasis on e-mobility.
EV makers in India show their optimism on the growth of this segment in the coming few years. Naveen Munjal, Managing Director of Hero Electric expects EV sales to reach the 30 million mark by 2030 while Tarun Mehta, CEO of Ather Energy states that 40 percent of petrol powered scooter sales can be converted to electric scooters by 2025.
