Shillong, May 3: The domestic electric vehicle (EV) market saw overall two-wheeler numbers decline by almost 23 percent to 66,468 units in April 2023 after witnessing an all-time high sales mark of over 85,000 units during March 2023. Electric two-wheeler (E2W) sales are declining on a monthly basis as a result of the government’s reversal of FAME-II subsidies.
“After increasing to levels of 86,000 units in March 2023, retail volumes of electric two-wheelers fell to 66,000 units in April 2023. The continuous problems with delayed subsidy disbursement and supply scarcity had some effect on volume”, according to Rohan Kanwar Gupta, vice president and sector head for corporate ratings at ICRA Limited.
It should be recalled that in addition to the 14 E2W manufacturers who are reportedly being investigated by the government for allegedly claiming FAME-II subsidies in violation of the minimum localization requirements, other companies including Ola Electric, Ather Energy, TVS Motor, and Hero MotoCorp are also reportedly under fire for allegedly maintaining lower vehicle prices by billing integral parts like chargers and proprietary software separately from the vehicle. All of the aforementioned businesses, however, have refuted the accusations made against them.
E2W registrations increased by 20% year over year (YaY) from 53,258 units in April 2022. The overall number of E2Ws registered this year was 64,649 units in January, 66,033 units in February, and 86,194 units in March, according to the Vahan portal.
It should be noted that Vahan only lists the total number of registered vehicles (after sales) and excludes automobiles that have been reserved. Additionally, it ignores low-speed E2W sales and leaves out information for Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana.