Reduction in Subsidies
The Indian government has been gradually reducing subsidies as E2W sales take off. The present subsidies are under the PM E-Drive scheme, where the maximum subsidy was INR 10,000 per month till March. This was reduced to INR 5,000 per vehicle in April.
The reduction in subsidies and the corresponding increase in vehicle prices meant that customers made their buying decisions sooner, leading to inflated numbers in March. April has seen some normalisation of that, and it may take a couple of months for the numbers to return to normal as buyers get used to the new prices.
The sharp decline in sales is worrying for the Indian market as it indicates a huge price elasticity for electric commuter scooter sales.
TVS steals the lead
It was a photo finish in April, as TVS took the number one spot with sales of 19,739 units. Ola was just 30 units behind with sales of 19,709 units. Bajaj Auto reported sales of 19,001 units as the musical chairs for numerical supremacy continued in the Indian market.
On a year-to-date basis, both Bajaj and TVS now have a fairly large lead over Ola Electric. Bajaj accounts for 24.42% of the overall sales in the first four months, followed by TVS Motor with 23.46% share of the market. Ola now has 19.17% of the market, and the just-IPOed Ather Energy accounts for 13.53% of the market. Hero MotoCorp (Vida) with 4.64% and Greaves Electric (Ampere) with 4.26% share of the market round up the top six.
Notably, 181 operators account for the remaining 10.52% share of the market.
Disclaimer: We only consider registration data in our analysis and ignore any media statements that contradict numbers.
In short, if you haven’t registered, it’s not a sale for us. This allows an apples-to-apples comparison between everyone.
Our only source of data is the Vahan dashboard, which the Indian government maintains.
InsightEV – Global Electric Mobility
