September proved to be an impressive month for the electric vehicle industry as the total registration of battery-powered vehicles hit the highest-ever monthly number.
Volumes grew for the fourth month in a row, on a month-on-month basis. Total registered electric vehicle registrations (all segments included) recorded a 6 per cent month-on-month increase at 91,568 units in September 2022 compared with 86,066 in August 2022. As against September 2021 registrations, September volumes grew by about 167 per cent, according to data on Vahan Dashboard.
All-time high
“Monthly EV registrations in India achieved an all-time high in September 2022. EV penetration in the same month also crossed the 6 per cent threshold for the first time,” said Gagan Sidhu, Director, CEEW Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF).
EV registrations across segments have consistently been on the rise through 2022, except for April and May, when the electric two-wheeler segment (e-2W), in particular, faced safety concerns due to some incidents of fire.
“However, timely product recalls and the policy push towards battery safety seem to have re-instilled consumer confidence. To illustrate, e-2W registrations, which stood at 50,764 units in March, fell for two successive months, to 40,089 units in May. It took four more months after May for volumes to cross March levels, which they finally did in September by recording 51,754 registrations, said Sidhu.
In September 2022, Ola Electric became the number one player by selling more than 9,600 units. “The offer price of its entry-level S1 scooter at ₹1 lakh seems to have driven the sales of Ola electric scooters,” said a report by JMK Research.
Okinawa held the number two position with registrations of more than 8,200 units, while Hero Electric’s volumes stood at a little over 8,000 and it occupied the number three slot. Ampere came next, with registrations of 6,190 units. Supported by a ramp-up in capacity, Ather continued to increase its volumes and sold about 6,180 units. TVS Motors’ registrations stood at about 3,950 units.
In a further boost to EV adoption, the August and September saw Chhattisgarh, Ladakh, and Rajasthan notify policies providing purchase subsidies for consumers.
Electric cars
The cumulative registrations of electric cars in September 2022 stood at 4,239 units, reporting a marginal decline of two per cent over the previous month’s volumes. However, the number is up 2.5 times on a year-on-year basis. Tata Motors remains the major player with a market share of more than 80 per cent.