New Delhi: In 2024, India’s electric two wheeler (e2w) market continued to race ahead, with sales growing by nearly a third over the previous year. But the growth rate was slower compared to 2023, albeit on a larger base. According to data from the Vahan portal, 11,07,976 units of e2w were sold till date in 2024, which is an increase of nearly 34% over 8,27,892 units sold in calendar 2023 but almost double the numbers sold in 2022. In other words, the market for e2w has nearly doubled in just two years. Also, the growth in 2023 over the previous year was 41%, with 2022 closing at 5,85,278 units. The current year also witnessed several upheavals, as some erstwhile market leaders faded into oblivion, legacy two wheeler OEMs raced ahead at remarkable speed, product prices came down from previous highs and the subsidy being given by the government was drastically reduced.
In 2024, market leader Ola continued to hold its grip over at least a third of the market and closed the year with over 36% share (as on date). It sold 4,01,137 units versus 2,66,496 units in 2023. Ola gained almost four percentage points in market share during the year compared to calender 2023. But this 36% share is a climbdown from the nearly 49% market share the company had managed to grab between April and June this year 2024. Thanks to increasing competitive intensity from legacy two wheeler OEMs TVS Motor Company and Bajaj Auto, the dynamics of the e2w market have perhaps altered forever.
Also, in recent months, Ola has taken a series of measures to address customer dissatisfaction with after-sales and servicing of Ola products besides also introducing lower priced variants to take on competition. In December itself, the company reached the 4000 distribution network mark (all these stores will be co-located with service facilities) after legacy OEMs muscled in earlier in the year with a vastly expanded distribution network.
The emphasis on distribution and servicing also came about for Ola after Bhavish Aggarwal had pooh poohed the traditional dealership model on several occasions earlier, relying on vehicle sales through an online booking mechanism.
This is how it worked earlier: the customer could book an Ola model of her choice online and it would be delivered at her doorstep – with no human interaction needed – or indeed possible- in the entire process. Almost the same model was being followed for servicing Ola products, where a company executive came down to pick up the vehicle which needed servicing and then to return the product after the job had been done. Subsequently, Ola had opened what it called “Experience Centres” where the customer could experience the product and make some enquiries but booking was still to be done online. Also, all these customer facing initiatives were company owned, unlike traditional sales models using dealerships where the dealers bear product inventory costs and servicing inventory costs and sales are done through human interactions.
Ola continued to retain its numero uno position in 2024 but Bajaj Auto has seen the most remarkable rise from the proverbial ashes, with market share more than doubling in 2024 and breaching the 17% mark, from under 9% in 2023. The Bajaj Chetak sold 1,92,655 units this year (till date) versus just 71,871 units in 2023 and briefly in December, it was the largest selling e2w brand. Earlier this month, Bajaj announced the launch of a new Chetak, built on a brand new platform and with more storage space. Currently, Bajaj Chetak competes with the TVS iQube, Ather Riza, Ola S1 range, and Ampere Nexus. With the company aiming for a leadership position in the e2w space eventually, perhaps electric first companies such as Ola Energy and Ather Energy had better watch out!
The third significant player in the e2w market was TVS, which managed to retain its market share at just under 20% in 2024, just like in 2023 despite scalingup sales. The company sold 2,17,809 units in 2024 (till date) versus 1,63,880 in 2023 ans retained the second position in the e2w market pecking order. TVS has already introduced new variants of the iQube portfolio, so now there are three battery options: 2.2 kilowatts, 3.4 kilowatts and 5.1 kilowatts. In the last few months, TVS has launched the iQube 09, which has a single battery pack and therefore a lower price than the other variants. The strategy on pricing is clear: the company wants to launch differentiated products at different price points instead of competing on discounts, which many others are offering on their product range.
Is there a sub one lakh rupee product also in the pipeline? The company has not confirmed this, merely saying new products are expected to be launched shortly to address different customer segments.
