Ola Electric, once the dominant player in India’s electric two-wheeler (E2W) market, has slipped out of the top five in monthly sales for the first time this fiscal, ceding ground to smaller rival Greaves Electric. The company recorded its weakest monthly dispatches of the year in February, selling 3,968 scooters and capturing just 4% market share.
On a year-on-year basis, Ola Electric’s monthly sales more than halved to 3,968 units in February. Greaves Electric, which sells the Ampere brand of e-scooters, registered 4,725 units to take the fifth spot with a similar 4% share. Ola’s sales were also down 47% month-on-month from 7,531 units sold in January.
Retail Downsizing
The weak performance comes at a time when Ola Electric is shifting focus on its newly launched battery energy storage business and rationalising its retail footprint from around 4,000 stores across India to nearly 700 outlets as part of a “structural reset.” Founder, Chairman and Managing Director Bhavish Aggarwal also acknowledged that service challenges have impacted brand trust, leading to lower sales over the last couple of quarters. The company is reportedly planning to shut another 150 physical retail outlets by the end of March, which could aggravate service-related issues and weigh on sales. The company needs to sell about 15,000 units a month to achieve break-even.
Competitive Landscape
Meanwhile, TVS Motor retained market leadership with 31,601 unit registrations in February, translating into a 28.3% market share. This came even as the overall electric two-wheeler market declined over 9% month-on-month to 1,11,685 units in February from 1,23,368 units in January. However, on a year-on-year basis, monthly E2W sales were up 46% compared with 76,723 units sold in February last year.
Bajaj Auto recorded 25,323 units in February against 25,717 units in the previous month, while its market share improved to 22.67% from 20.84% month-on-month. Ather Energy retained the third position despite a 7% month-on-month decline in registrations to 20,582 units from 22,130 in January, with its market share steady at 18%. Hero MotoCorp also held on to the fourth spot, even as sales fell 6.26% month-on-month to 12,512 units, giving it an 11.2% market share. In January, the Vida e-scooter maker had sold 13,349 units with a 10.82% share.