The electric 2-wheeler high-speed scooter registrations in May 2023 surged 148% year on year and 57% month-on-month to 1,04,771 units while overall e-2W grew 11% YoY and 21% MoM, primarily on account of pre-buying before price rise from 1st June.
EV 2W penetration for May 2023 stood at 7.0% vs 5.4% in April 2023.
Ola Electric retained its top spot with the highest registrations at 28,438 units in May 2023; commanding 27.1% market share, followed by TVS Motors at 19.3%, Ather Energy at 14.6%, Bajaj Auto at 9.5% and Ampere at 9.2%, according to Elara Capital report.
With new reduced subsidy norms to kick in from 1st June 2023, most EV OEMs plan to take price hikes in the range of INR 15,000 – 30,000 (approx. 10-15%) leading to pre-buying in May 2023. TVS, Ather, Ola and Ampere are among many others who have revised their prices while Hero Electric stated that they will not take any price hikes.
Subsidy worth INR 12bn is currently on hold for 13 EV OEMs on grounds of flouting of localization norms and misappropriation of funds, as per SMEV.
Delay in disbursement has led to liquidity crisis for OEMs and thus leading to production cuts and lower EV sales. To tackle the issue, OEMs are launching low speed EV scooters. Players like Hero MotoCorp, Ola Electric, Okinawa, Hero Electric, Ather Energy, TVS Motors stand impacted. The investigation is likely to conclude soon, according to Jay Kale, sr VP and equity analyst ,auto and auto ancillary, Elara Capital.
