The electric two-wheeler industry in the country is showing signs of revival with registration at 2,544 units in September, as against 1,473 vehicles sold in the corresponding month last year, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) said on Wednesday.

In September, sales of high-speed electric two-wheelers increased by 72 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), it said.

“We are experiencing huge customer interest in greener vehicles as they have seen how the environment looks like when no fuel-guzzling vehicles are running on roads. The upcoming festival season will add to the pent-up demand and help manufacturers recover what they lost in quarters one and two, due to the Covid lockdown,” said Sohinder Gill, Director General, SMEV.

The outlook for this financial year remains positive as the sector hopes that the recent move by the Centre allowing vehicles to be sold without battery and the announcement of an EV policy by the Delhi government would further help the industry move forward.

“Also, extending the PMP (Phased Manufacturing Programme) guidelines would allow industry to ramp up production and strengthen the local component market,” Gill said.

Between April and September this year, the industry registered sales of 7,552 high-speed electric two-wheelers as against 10,161 units sold in the corresponding period last year.

“One of the main reasons of the stagnant sales is attributed to customers not able to buy products due to Covid-19 and the subsequent country-widelockdown. However, the industry has been quickly able to enter the positive curve soon after the government announced the unlock process,” he said.

Government push

Gill further said that the EV sector looks forward to a big push by the government to set right what went wrong with Faster Adoption and Manufacture of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles (FAME)-II so as to assist demand generation, which is already showing some green shoots.

“Some of the measures that could be adopted are removal of the ‘range criteria’ from two-wheelers for subsidy, reduction of GST on batteries from 18 per cent to 5 per cent when sold separately, mandating delivery businesses to convert their fleets to EVs and promote electric mobility under the Swachh Bharat campaign.”