Industrial body data shows, in 2021, electric two-wheeler sales have more than doubled. There has been an increase in the demand for high-speed scooters supported by government subsidies.
According to the data by the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), just about 100,000 units were sold the year before. While last year, about 234,000 units were sold. High-speed vehicles like the Ather 450 and Bajaj Chetak consisted of three-fifths of these. These vehicles required registration.
ET reported on Sunday that the high-speed category grew more than five-fold during the year to under 143,000 units. Small scooters that don’t pass the speed of 25 kilometres an hour are included in the low-speed category. A fourth to over 91,000 units was the growth rate. However, the numbers don’t take into account the sales of many imported cheap electric two-wheelers from China.
Sohinder Gill, the director-general of SMEV that the last few months have been better in the EV journey. He added that around one million vehicles including buses, cars, and three-wheelers were sold by the EV industry, during the last 15 years. He also hopes that in the next 12 months, a similar number will be sold.
He predicts that by the trends, 5 to 6 times growth over the previous 12 months to be witnessed in the next 12 months.
After the centre increased subsidies for the flagship Faster Adoption and manufacturing of Electric and hybrid vehicles (FAME) EV promotion scheme, the electric two-wheeler market got a big boost in June last year. The overnight reduction in the price between high-speed and low-speed scooters shifted the consumer base in favour of high-speed scooters.
States that announced their subsidies over the centre’s scheme to promote EV adoption include Delhi, Maharastra and Gujarat. While we take the conventional two-wheeler market, the electric one remains just around 1%. Legacy automakers and new investors have got the attention of the growing figures. Startups and legacy automakers have committed investments of more than Rs 10,000 crore towards their electric two-wheeler business, according to an estimate by rating agency ICRA.
The coming 3-5 years will see the money invested over. Companies like Hero MotoCorp hasn’t revealed their EV investments and plans yet. The number is likely to go up that way.
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