Monthly electric vehicle registrations (all segments) in the country surpassed the one lakh mark, for the first time ever, in October — thanks to strong growth in the electric two-wheeler segment.
Also, total EV registrations grew for fifth month in a row.
Total EV (all segments) recorded 23 per cent month-on-month increase at 114,001 units in October against 92,833 units in September . To put this in a perspective, EV sales in the full year 2020-21 was 1,33,000 vehicles.
When compared with October 2021 registrations, this October EV registrations grew by 190 per cent, according to data on Vahan Dashboard.
Electric two-wheelers formed 66 per cent of October’s total EV sales with 75,294 units — the highest sales ever achieved by the electric 2W market in India. Electric 2W volumes grew about 42 per cent month-on-month and about 290 per cent year-on-year.
“About 15 States have introduced EV policies with consumer-specific incentives since 2020. These coupled with the benefits provided by the FAME II scheme have helped bring down the high upfront cost of EVs, more specifically for electric two-wheelers. More and more fleets and commercial entities have also committed to deploy E2Ws,” said Meghna Nair, Research Analyst, CEEW-Centre for Energy Finance.
Ola in pole position
According to Vahan data, Ola Electric retained the top slot position in October by retailing 16,129 units. Okinawa held on to its second position with total registrations of 14,121 units during the month. However, Ola claimed to have sold about 20,000 units in October, while Okinawa said it sold 17,531 units during the month.
Ampere recorded a whopping growth with its total registrations touching 9,878 units in October compared with 6,465 units in September.
Hero Electric’s registrations stood at 8,753 units. Ather Energy sustained its growth journey and saw its registrations touching 7,276 units in October. However, Ather claimed to have sold 8,213 units last month — up 122 per cent year-on-year. TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto retailed 5,714 units and 3,413 units of their electric two-wheelers during last month.
“EV penetration (share in overall sales) for the two-wheeler industry was at 4.4 per cent in October, down from 5 per cent in September – a reflection of bunch-up of demand during the festival period that is difficult to match for EVs due to supply constraints,” said Kumar Rakesh, Analyst - IT & Auto, BNP Paribas India.
Electric three-wheeler industry volume grew by about 11 per cent month-on-month and the penetration increased to about 55 per cent from about 49 per cent in September, he added.