For the first time in years there has been some change in the type of electric two wheelers on sale. This is the …

year 2025. The Year of Electric Two Wheelers in India. This is the year the electric two wheelers will seriously eat into the sales of petrol two wheelers.

The old eScooter top sellers like Hero Electric, Okinawa, Pure EV, and Revolt Motors have been knocked out of the list. Revolt Motors is taken over by RattanIndia. Ampere and Ather are the 2 “oldies” still in the game.

This is the year (due to various factors) EVERY SINGLE eScooter/eMotorcycle compay are perfectly in position to “SCALE-UP”. Even the new baby Kinetic eLuna is expecting sales of 1,00,000 vehicles.

Ola Electric could… before the end of the year cross 50,000 unit sales per month. Bajaj Auto, TVS and Hero Motor Corp together sell around 50,000 eScooters per month. By June 2025 Ola Electric’s Li-Ion Battery is expected to scale up further… add to this the micro companies selling chinese eScooters.

In 2024 India sold around 11 Lakh escooters a 33% increase to 2023. Year 2024 saw muted growth in every sector. So this year we can expect at least 30L Sales if not 50L. We at PlugInCaroo expect the sales to cross 50 Lakhs. The increase in electric 2Wheelers sales would eat into the sales of petrol 2-wheelers. Till now the numbers were too small to show up.

IN 2025 THE WRITING WILL SHOW UP ON THE WALL… and it could be ugly for the trio – “Gola”, “Shola” and “Champion” eScooter makers 😉

What does all this mean?

This means in 2025 itself Petrol Scooters/motorcycles ki band bajne wali hai... because eScooters & eScooters are not a completely different market. It is not like all customers would want to have both. Yes there might be customers who have both but:

1. Those vehicles would be used by different riders eg one for husband the other for wife.
2. the Petrol vehicle would be an existing vehicle and eScooter would be a newer addition.
3. It will not be vice versa to point no. 2. Meaning nobody will be having an eScooter/eMotorcycle and then go and buy a petrol scooter to replace their eScooter.
4. Yes they might not sell off their existing Petrol Scooter/Motorcycle the next day or next month due to emotional connection or being unsure of the electric version. But eventually the Petrol Scooter will be sold off as they see that they do not use it at all… and better to sell it at the earliest than to let it rust and go to ruin.

A potential customer needs a 2 Wheeler so he buys the best suited 2 wheeler for him. Since he uses the vehicle a lot daily (and since the price of petrol is already 20% more than the price of an US Dollar) he also wants the scooter to save him money. So he would ALWAYS prefer an Electric Vehicle over a Petrol Vehicle as long as he can charge it easily.

Recently (Nov, Dec 2024) Bajaj Auto, TVS and Hero Motor Corp saw their domestic sales falling as much as 10% to 50%. The worst affected was Pulsar & CT usually the top brands in the market. But they point out that their exports have increased. The export has increased because of the lack of quality eScooter/eMotorcycles in Africa & South East Asia. Once the Indian eScooter/eMotorcycles start exporting… even this avenue shall close.

Bajaj Auto, TVS and Hero Motor Corp have since the last 2 years increased their electric scooter production so much so that today they are jumping up and down about their rising sales in electric two wheeler category.

But by selling electric vehicles will they not be destroying their own petrol scooter market?

Ola Electric … the full stack:

Electric scooters were being sold in India for about 2 decades. But for the first time two things are happening simultaneously. First, this year India has broken the psychological barrier of 500 kilometres of range. This means range anxiety is no longer an issue, at least in electric motorcycles.

Second thing to happen  is the production and distribution of Slow Speed Scooters by a proper Scooter Manufacturing company. Till now what were being sold as slow speed scooters were cheap Chinese products which had inferior parts and quality.

Ola Electric has changed both of these in one stroke.

Another Big Change that Ola Electric brought in is Portable Batteries. Revolt was the first to introduce Portable Batteries followed by Vida from Hero Motor Corps.

This year Ola Electric too introduces multiple electric scooter with portable batteries. It has come with portable batteries for both slow speed scooter and the fast electric scooter called Ola 1 Z and 1 Z Plus.

The Ola Gig is the most budget-friendly slow electric scooter in the world. It is designed for commercial use, such as food or grocery delivery and ride-sharing.

OLA Roadster X+ (500 kms Range) at just Rs 155,000 (see features below)

Ola Electric… miles ahead!!!

Rest of the pack… oops competition… Gola, shola aur champion 😉

Ola Electric … the full stack (once again):

VERDICT:

Ola Electric has done something like Tata Motors… placed a vehicle at every price range. Ola Electric has no competition in the Gig scooter Rs 40,000 (US$ 460) & Z category Rs 60,000 (US$ 670). It dominates the mid section with the 140kms Ola Roadster Priced at Rs 75,000 (US$ 862) and is the leader in Long Distance with a range of 501 kms with Roadster X+ priced at Rs 1,55,000 (US$ 1,782).

For all the brilliance of Ola Electric…and the sheer number of vehicles it has launched in such a short period we feel the innovation of Ather Energy makes it a close second. Although Ather450 and Apex are kind of similar Rizta looks and feels different. The innovative Smart Helmets “Ather Halo” made for both Him and Her are just outstanding.

Ather Energy is expected to enter the IPO market. Ather seems to be patiently biding its time trying to sit out the Bear market for its IPO.