January 2025 has witnessed retail sales of 97,677 electric two-wheelers, up 19 percent year on year (January 2024: 82,149 units). This is as per the latest sales data on the Vahan portal (February 1, 2025, 7am). Cumulative sales for the April 2024-January 2025 period at 9,41,552 units are up 30 percent YoY (April 2023-January 2024: 7,25,418 units). The big news though is that Ola Electric is back at the No. 1 position and that’s thanks to strong sales in the last three days of January, helping it pip first runner-up, TVS.
The Top 10 EV OEMs’ combined sales at 92,500 units constitute 94 of total industry sales, with the top four – Ola, TVS, Bajaj and Ather – accounting for 82,307 EVs or 84 percent of monthly sales. The real battle though is underway with the three podium players — Ola, TVS and Bajaj – each with sales of over 20,000 e-scooters.
Ola Electric: 24,330 units
Ola Electric may have regained its No. 1 title for the month but its January retail sales of 24,330 units are down 25 percent YoY (January 2024: 32,424 units). Its cumulative 10-month sales of 3,11,841 units are up 29 percent YoY but it does not look like Ola will manage to surpass its record CY2024 sales of 4,07,547 units in the 12 months of FY2025. That’s because quarter on quarter, its numbers have dropped. Compared to Q1 FY2025’s (April-July 2024) 1,08,410 units, Q2 sales were lower at 94,172 units and Q3 even lower at 84,929 units, dragged down by December’s 13,794 units, down 55 percent YoY.
Ola recently launched its Gen 3 scooters in the form of four models – S1 X, S1 X+, S1 Pro and the new flagship S1 Pro+ – with pricing starting at Rs 79,999 and going up to Rs 1.70 lakh. The S1 Air has been discontinued, and the Gen 2 models of the S1 X and S1 Pro will continue to be on sale alongside the Gen 3 scooters at reduced prices.
Expect Ola to up the ante later this year when it starts delivering its new EVs – the S1 Z and the Gig, priced at an extremely affordable Rs 39,999, it launched in end-November 2024. Deliveries of the S1 Z and Gig are slated to begin later this year, around April-May.
TVS Motor Company: 23,788 units
So near, yet so far. This sums up TVS Motor Co’s near-miss at winning the title of No. 1 electric two-wheeler OEM for January 2025, losing out by just 542 units. With sales of 23,788 units, up 55 percent YoY (January 2024: 15,358 units), TVS, which led the sales chart for the first four weeks from January 1-28, was pipped by Ola only in the last three days of the month.
Nevertheless, TVS Motor Co is a strong No. 2 in FY2025 with total retails of 187,880 iQubes, up 32 percent YoY. It will go past the 200,000 sales milestone in February, marking the first time that it has surpassed the 200,000-units sales milestone in a fiscal year. In CY2024, TVS sold 2,20,472 iQubes.
With this performance, the TVS iQube has a market share of 24 percent in January and 20 percent for the first 10 months of FY2025. The company, which has ample manufacturing capacity on hand, is strategically expanding the iQube dealer network. Currently estimated at around 750 touchpoints across India, TVS is increasing the network each month. The company, which expects two-wheeler EV sales in India to reach 30 percent market penetration by CY2025, plans to roll out a new electric scooter before the end of FY2025.
It will be among the moves that TVS, which is the longstanding No. 2 OEM in this segment and currently engaged in a fierce battle with Bajaj Auto, makes to protect its turf. Bajaj Auto has gone ahead of TVS in two of the past 10 months – September and December.
Bajaj Auto: 21,294 units
Bajaj Auto’s Chetak, which took the No. 1 e2W title in December 2024, is back to No. 3 position in January 2025, with a resurgent Ola claiming its numero uno rank and TVS also surpassing it. Growth continues to be strong for the Pune-based company and January’s 21,294 units are up 96 percent on year-ago sales (January 2024: 10,891 units).
This gives the Bajaj Chetak a monthly market share of 22 percent and, with cumulative 10-month sales of 1,74,142, the current FY2025 share is 18.50 percent. It is worth noting that Bajaj revealed an all-new Chetak in the final days of 2024 and that customers are sure to wait for the new 35 series models, which promise more range and a huge boot. This could perhaps be the reason why Bajaj has slipped down the order in January.
In CY2024, Bajaj Auto clocked best-ever annual retail sales of 1,93,439 Chetaks and 169 percent YoY growth (CY2023: 71,941 units). Given the current momentum it is witnessing, expect the Chetak to sell another 45,000 to 50,000 units in February and March 2025, which would mean total FY2025 sales in the region of 2,20,000 units and a new fiscal-year high.
Bajaj Auto’s speedy rate of growth is helping it to close the gap annually with TVS, which is the longstanding No. 2 OEM. This is a result of strong consumer demand for the Chetak, ramped-up production and an expanded Chetak retail sales network.
In CY2025, like Ola which targeted the gig-worker market with its affordable Gig e-scooter, Bajaj Auto has plans to introduce specially designed EVs for gig workers. “Gig workers don’t want a vehicle that shows them as gig workers – they want a family vehicle. We will have Chetak models which will be used for delivery but they will be designed recognising the fact that gig workers need a family vehicle,” said Rakesh Sharma, executive director, Bajaj Auto, at a round table in Pune after the unveiling of the Chetak 35 series.
Ather Energy: 12,895 units
Ather Energy, ranked No. 4, completes the quartet of OEMs to sell over 1 lakh units in the fiscal to date. Like Ola, TVS and Bajaj, Ather too achieved its best-ever annual sales last year. The company, whose best month was March 2024 (17,429 units), saw sales decline sharply in May and June but returned to five-figure retails from July onwards.
In January, Ather sold 12,895 units, up 37 percent YoY (January 2024: 9,380 units). Its cumulative 10-month retails of 1,03,294 units are up 25 percent YoY and give the company a market share of 11 percent. The Rizta family e-scooter is witnessing growing customer acceptance.
Greaves Electric Mobility: 3,611 units
Greaves Electric Mobility (GEM), which currently has a six-model portfolio of e-scooters, sold 3,611 units in January 2025 (up 53 percent YoY). This performance gives it a market share of 3.69 percent for the month and fifth rank after Ather. GEM’s cumulative 10-month retails at 30,815 units are up 20 percent YoY and give it a 3.27 percent market share.
GEM’s newest product – the Ampere Nexus – seems to be the key driver of this growth, which has been confirmed by the management. In an investor conference call in November 2024, K Vijaya Kumar, Executive Director and CEO, Greaves Cotton said: “We are registering very robust growth month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter primarily based on our new product. The Nexus, which we launched two quarters before, is doing very well.”
Hero MotoCorp: 1,615 units
Hero MotoCorp’s January 2025’s retails at 1,615 Vida e-scooters making for 8 percent YoY sales growth (January 2024: 1,495 units) and they come on the back of a poor performance in December (1,022 units, down 36 percent). October (7,353 units) and November (7,351 units) have been the best months for Vida EV retails in the fiscal year to date.
Hero MotoCorp has started scaling up brand presence for Vida and its network now stands at 203 touchpoints comprising 180 dealers across 116 cities. And it already has around 2,500 charging stations in collaboration with Ather Energy, in which Hero MotoCorp is an early investor.
Growth Outlook for FY2025
With just two months left for FY2025 to come to a close, the electric two-wheeler industry will cross a million units for the first time in a fiscal year soon. At 9,41,552 units retailed between April 2024 and January 2025, it is just 6,949 units away from surpassing FY2024’s record sales of 9,48,501 units, which was an increase of 30 percent YoY (FY2023: 7,28,215 e2Ws).
There’s plenty for electric two-wheeler buyers to look forward to in CY2025. Not only has the market leader Ola rolled out new models, but two legacy Japanese OEMs operating in India have also entered the market.
Honda has launched the Activa e: and QC1 models at the recently concluded Auto Expo 2025. The Activa e:, which has two variants – standard (Rs 1.17 lakh) and RoadSync Duo (Rs 1.52 lakh). The QC1, Honda’s more budget-friendly EV, is priced at Rs 90,000 and is the most affordable Japanese electric scooter in India. It has a claimed top speed of 50kph, does the 0-40kph in 9.7 seconds and delivers a claimed IDC range of 80km. It’s early days yet for Honda but the Japanese major, which is the scooter market leader, has plans to lead the e2W market and has revealed plans to set up an electric motorcycle plant in India by 2028.
Suzuki has plugged in with the new e-Access, which is powered by a fixed 3.07kWh LFP battery and the company claims a 95km IDC range. This battery pack powers a swingarm-mounted motor making 4.1kW and 15Nm propelling the e-Access to a 71kph claimed top speed.
Clearly, there’s plenty of exciting action in this segment of zero-emission mobility. Stay plugged in as we bring you the latest reports and in-depth number-crunching analyses.
