E2W sales remain flat in Q1FY25 despite new offerings by Ola, TVS, Bajaj Auto
E2W sales remain flat in Q1FY25 despite new offerings by Ola, TVS, Bajaj Auto
Despite affordable variants offered by the top four players, electric two-wheeler (E2W) sales remained flat during the first quarter (April-June) of the current financial year at 222,127 units, according to the vahan data.
The total E2W registrations were marginally up by 1.62 percent from 218,574 units in the same period last year, the Vahan data showed.
Industry players attributed the muted growth in numbers to the reduction in subsidies granted to EVs by the government by replacing the FAME2 Policy (valid till 31st March 2024) with the Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) 2024. The new scheme, which is valid from 1st April to July 31 this year, offers a maximum subsidy of Rs. 10,000 per e-2W or Rs 5000 per kWh of battery capacity, whichever is lower.
According to Icra, E2W volumes had improved to around 137,041 units in March 2024, aided by pre-buying ahead of reduction in subsidy from April 2024. Following the same, the volumes moderated in Q1 FY2025.
As Rohan Kanwar Gupta, vice president & sector head - corporate ratings, Icra, “The moderation can be attributed to both reduction in subsidy benefits and to an extent also to the pre-buying which happened in March 2024.
As per Vahan data, the total numbers of E2W sold during the months of April, May and June this year were 65,462 units, 77,160 units and 79,505 units respectively. During 2023, the numbers were 66,876 units in April, 1,05,590 in May and 46,108 in June, vahan data showed.
“The reduction in subsidy is expected to constrain the pace of transition towards electrification over the near term, even as OEMs continue to focus on launching more affordable products, aided by value engineering initiatives,” added Kanwar.
During the first half of this calendar year (January-June), E2W sales went up by 21 percent at 527,000 units vis-a-vis 435,703 units last year.
Launches galore
Incidentally, this quarter witnessed record launches by EV manufacturers in the mass-market category.
E2W market leader Ola Electric Mobility slashed the prices of its entry-level scooter S1X model (4 kWh) by 5,000 to Rs 10,000 across variants, Ather Energy introduced its family scooter Rizta at a starting price of Rs 1.1 lakh.
Among traditional players, while Bajaj Auto introduced the Chetak 2901- priced at Rs 95,998 (ex-showroom), TVS Motor Company came up with the base variant of iQube for Rs 94,999.