As the adoption of battery-powered vehicles gathers pace, total electric two-wheeler volumes (E2W), including both high and low-speed vehicles, are set to cross one million units this fiscal, according to the estimates of JMK Research.

During H1 FY23, the overall E2W sales in India stood at about 4.56 lakh units, which was more than twice the sales in H1 FY22. High-speed E2Ws accounted for more than 65 per cent of the overall E2W sales in H1 of this fiscal.

According to JMK Research estimates, the second half of the fiscal may see total E2W sales of about 7.3 lakh units, including low and high-speed models. But going forward, the share of low-speed electric vehicles is expected to decline as majority of the manufacturers are moving towards producing high-speed products due to new norms.

High-speed products

An analysis of new product launches indicates that 54 new lithium-ion battery-based E2W models were launched in India by 31 companies during January-October 2022. Of this, 44 were high-speed models (top speed is more than 25 kmph). In terms of maximum battery range (the maximum distance that an E2W can travel on a single charge), 16 models with a range up to 100 km were launched this calendar year, while 27 models with a range of 101-150 km hit the market. As many as nine models with a range of more than 150 km were also introduced.

About 12 electric bikes were launched during this period. Their top speeds range in 65-180 kmph whereas the maximum battery range of these e-bikes varies between 100 km and 200 km.

During H1 FY23, Okinawa emerged the leader with sales of 53,550 units in the high-speed E2W market, followed by Hero Electric (49,484 units) and Ola Electric (48,015 units). The combined high speed model sales of the top 10 OEMs in H1 FY23 surpassed their FY22 sales.

So far, 85 electric two-wheelers have been approved under FAME 2 for the grant of incentive or subsidy. But, only 44 E2W models have active FAME 2 certification, while the certification for the remaining 41 models has either expired or been suspended by the government.

To date, 25 States and Union Territories have either issued draft or implemented their EV policy. During H1, Maharashtra recorded the highest high-speed E2W sales at 53,043 units, followed by Karnataka (42,371 units) and Gujarat (32,414 units).

FY22 proved to be a landmark year for E2W manufacturing as about ₹5,768-crore worth of investments were made during the year. In H1 of this fiscal, investments to the tune of ₹3,480 crore came into the market.

Amid the growing penetration of E2Ws in the country, the market still needs to overcome several challenges in terms of the inadequacies and/or inefficiencies of different support systems required in the EV ecosystem such as retail financing, supply chain and timely disbursal of government subsidy, it pointed out.

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