Buying an electric scooter is increasingly becoming a waiting game. Across leading brands, buyers are being asked to wait anywhere between three weeks and over two months for popular models and colour variants as demand continues to outstrip production, leading manufacturers to step up capacity expansion.
The longer delivery timelines, once largely associated with popular passenger vehicles, are now becoming common in the fast-growing electric two-wheeler market. Dealerships across cities say limited inventories and strong booking inflows are leaving customers with a choice between waiting for their preferred variant or opting for what is immediately available.
At one of TVS Motor‘s largest dealerships in Chennai, the waiting period for several variants of the iQube and Orbiter electric scooters has stretched to over two months from about two to four weeks earlier.
While TVS offers the iQube with battery packs ranging from 2.2 kWh to 5.3 kWh, dealerships are carrying only a limited mix of variants, with top-end models and popular colour options largely unavailable for immediate delivery.
A similar trend is visible at Ather Energy dealerships. The top-end Rizta Z currently carries a waiting period of around 25 days to a month, while some lower variants take even longer as production is being prioritised for higher-end models. Availability of the Ather 450X also varies by variant.
“The overall waiting period across electric two-wheeler brands has increased substantially over the past few months, though it differs by city, brand and variant,” CS Vigneshwar, president of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), told Fe.
He attributed the trend to a wider choice of electric scooters across price points, growing consumer preference for EVs and higher fuel-price uncertainty following the West Asia crisis, which has encouraged more buyers to shift from internal combustion engine vehicles.
The surge in demand is evident in industry sales. Electric two-wheeler registrations have already crossed 1.19 million units this calendar year, just short of the record 1.34 million units sold during the whole of 2025. During the June quarter alone, registrations rose 68% year-on-year to 525,000 units, taking EV penetration to 11% of the overall two-wheeler market and over 25% of the scooter segment.
Manufacturers say they are struggling to keep pace. Ather Energy co-founder and CEO Tarun Mehta described the situation as bittersweet, saying demand has consistently remained ahead of the company’s ability to supply vehicles.
The company’s quarterly pre-orders surged 158% year-on-year to 150,000 units, while production stood at around 83,000 vehicles. Dealer inventory has dropped sharply from 14 days to just three days during the first quarter.
“We are receiving over 50,000 pre-orders every month. In many states, dealers have stopped accepting fresh bookings because waiting periods are touching two months or even higher,” Mehta said during the company’s earnings call.
To bridge the gap, manufacturers are expanding capacity. TVS Motor is increasing monthly electric scooter production from about 40,000 units to over 50,000 units, while Bajaj Auto is raising Chetak production from 50,000 units to 60,000 units a month.
Ather is already operating its Hosur plant at full capacity of 35,000 units a month and expects the first phase of its new Maharashtra factory to become operational in the third quarter, adding annual capacity of 500,000 units. Even that may prove insufficient, Mehta said, if demand continues to grow at the current pace.