TVS Motor Company Ltd said it’s on track to ramp up capacity of electric two-wheelers from 10,000 units a month to about 25,000 units by March 2023. This comes in the wake of the leading two and three-wheeler maker’s growing volumes for its e-scooter iQube on the back of increasing acceptance of e–two–wheelers in the country.
While the company’s e–scooter sales continue to move northwards every month in the personal mobility segment, TVS Motor is also readying its e—product options for B2B along with an ecosystem of battery, connected service, and alternate ownership. For this it has collaborated with e-commerce players like Amazon India and Swiggy, a move that will bring incremental volumes .
Record sale
“Our EV journey with TVS iQube recorded a milestone in November 2022 with record sales of 10,056 units in a single month. This achievement is backed by the strong order books and increasing acceptance towards e–mobility, as the e–scooters continue to be at the forefront in this sector,” K N Radhakrishnan, Director & CEO of TVS Motor Company told businessline.
With improving sales of iQube, TVS Motor secured a market share of about 10.6 per cent in November. It occupied 5th position after Ola, Ampere, Okinawa, and Hero Electric in the electric 2W market.
To add new models
“The TVS’ iQube is also riding well on this EV upward trend and despite having only one EV model in its lineup, TVS is clocking good numbers. It appears that the production and supply chain operations for TVS have attained a level of stability. But the company will have to add new models in its lineup to offer customers more choices as well as to remain competitive across different price and performance segments,” said Suraj Ghosh Director, Mobility, S&P Global.
Soon in 100 cities
Presently, the company carries an order book of 25,000 units for iQube, with a presence in over 88 cities, which will reach 100 soon.
The company has already committed ₹1,000 crore capex, predominantly towards its EV business. “Our focus on EV two-wheeler segment is clear, and will have a full product pipeline in the next 12 quarters. Also, with the great success of TVS iQube, we intend to expand our electric offering across multiple segments and commercial mobility stands at the opportune inflection point,” said Radhakrishnan.
EV infra
As the electric two-wheeler industry gathers pace, penetration of public charging infrastructure across the country becomes equally critical. More and more residential and business complexes are developing EV charging stations, in addition to the increased number of state-owned charging stations that are being set up across cities. TVS Motor has also signed up with a host of agreements with private as well as government institutions for offering public charging infrastructure support to our customers.
“We are seeing clear evidence that states with EV policies show stronger growth in EV registrations than those without policies. EV manufacturers should also take the state-level policy push aspect into consideration when deciding where to direct efforts to grow volumes, pointed out said Gagan Sidhu, Director, CEEW Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF).