Rising fuel costs and the increased expense of petrol-powered two-wheelers in India have drawn buyers' attention to electric scooters. These e-scooters not only allow buyers to save money on fuel but also have lower maintenance expenses. Many state governments and the central government also provide subsidies promoting EV purchases in the country.
Electric scooter sales skyrocketed, and sales increased by percentages unseen by petrol-powered scooter OEMs. Prompting many automakers to enter the electric field. While things were going well for a few months, in May, they have fallen apart.
One of the primary reasons for the sales fall is a severe shortage of semiconductor chips and another factor could be the recent fires involving electric scooters. The government took notice as well and placed electric two-wheeler manufacturers such as Okinawa, Ola, Pure EV, and Boom Motors under surveillance.
Electric Scooters Sales Report May 2022
- Okinawa - 8,888 units
- Ola - 8,681 units
- Ampere - 5,529 units
- Ather - 3,098 units
- Hero - 2,739 units
The leaders in the e-scooter segment, Ola, Hero Electric, and Okinawa, have reported a significant fall in sales in May 2022. Ola has dropped to No. 2 after briefly holding the top slot in April 2022. Ola Electric continues to dominate the segment, despite sales falling 31.66 per cent year on year to 8,681 units in May 2022, from 12,702 units in April 2022. This resulted in a volume decrease of 4,021 units.
Okinawa sales fell as low as 19.28 per cent in the last month, reaching 8,888 units, a decrease of 2,123 units from the 11,011 units sold in April 2022. Hero Electric reported a maximum MoM de-growth of 58.36% to 2,739 units in May 2022, down from 6,578 units in April 2022. Hero Electric appears to have been the hardest hit by the parts shortage.
Ampere also reported a 15.46 per cent MoM to fall to 5,529 units in May 2022, down from 6,540 units sold in April 2022, resulting in a volume de-growth of 1,011 units.
Ather Energy had its best month ever in terms of sales. The company's e-scooter sales increased 26.45 per cent in the last month to 3,098 units, up from 2,450 units sold in April 2022. In May 2022, TVS Motor sold 2,637 units of the i-Qube, while Bajaj Auto saw solid sales of the Chetak e-scooter in the previous month, spreading sales to more cities across the country.