Ola Electric saw its market share increase to more than 50% in April, selling 33,934 electric two-wheelers, despite a larger 52 per cent decline in overall EV two-wheeler sales to 64,013 units from the previous month.
Industry sources told Moneycontrol that April is a historically sluggish sales month and that the post-holiday demand dropdown as the key cause of the total sales fall. 64,855 electric vehicle two-wheeler sales were recorded in April 2023.
“The EV two-wheeler sales are flat at 1 per cent year-on-year (YoY). This is because April is usually a slow month for sales. Last month was the end of financial year and many OEMs were offering huge discounts, which would have led to a boost in sales,” said an industry source.
In March, electric two-wheeler sales in India reached a record 136,000 units, a 50% rise over the same month last year. Thanks to year-end reductions, sales reached 942,088 units in the 12 months that concluded on March 31. This represents an increase of around 30% over the prior year. To be clear, Vahan doesn’t keep track of bookings—only the overall amount of transactions that are recorded. It also does not include statistics for Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana, nor does it account for low-speed E2W sales.
The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has been blocking subsidies since last year, which is another reason given by industry analysts for the decreased sales.
“Stagnation in the growth of electric two-wheelers can be attributed to both the significant reduction in subsidies and the challenges faced by several OEMs. The decrease in subsidies has led to higher prices for electric vehicles, except for those like Ola, which have heavily discounted their products,” said Sohinder Gill, director general of the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV).
