Electric Vehicle (EV) Sales in May 2023
Gearing up for an explosive turnaround in electric vehicle (EV) adoption, India has shown promising potential since the start of this year. Transcending towards the middle of the year, the momentum of EV Sales Growth in May 2023 has not subsided in the least as more startups are now standing out with their unique products and services.
Stepping in the first week of June 2023, the electric mobility market has seen a new surge of EV-focused OEMs that have released their monthly sales data for May 2023 to compare the growth rate of EVs from the previous month.
According to the latest Vahan dashboard findings, the EV Sales Growth in May 2023 has again surpassed April EV Sales of 110, 999 units with a recorded value of 157,311 units, which is 16,669 units ahead of the previous sales of March recorded at 140,669 units.
Following this trend, EV Sales Growth in May 2023 has now become the eighth consecutive month that EV sales have crossed the 100,000 mark.
Based on a Y-o-Y basis, EV Sales Growth in May 2023 has witnessed a jump of 135% as compared to its previous sales data of April 2023.
Talking about the biggest share of EV Sales Growth in May 2023, out of 157,338 EVs sold in May 2023, electric two and three-wheelers came out to be the most affordable products in the zero-emission segment, hence accounting for nearly 66% or 104,829 units and 28% or 44,609 units respectively of the overall EV sales share.
On the other hand, electric passenger vehicles, which have witnessed a growing demand amidst the personal usage consumer transition to e-mobility, EV Sales Growth in May 2023 accounted for 7,443 units with a 4.73% share.
In the end, electric buses and goods vehicles were left with a 1.27% share of the total EV sales growth.
Bifurcating the sales figures of each sub-segment according to their monthly EV sales performance, let’s take a brief look at some of the sales figures of each domain along with the company-wise retails.
Electric Two-Wheelers Segment Sales –May 2023
A major boost witnessed in retail sales in May 2023 was due to the government’s decision announced on May 22 to revise the subsidy on the FAME India Scheme to Rs 10,000 per kilowatt per hour (kWh) as against Rs 15,000/ kWH.
Additionally, the incentive cap for the FAME-II scheme subsidy has been reduced to 15% for the two-wheeler EV’s ex-factory price as against the 40% benefit extended earlier. This created a 37.5% cut, directly translating this down to higher vehicle prices, which got implemented from June 1, 2023.
Recording a new milestone in monthly sales record of electric two-wheelers, the registrations surpassed the 100,000-unit mark for the first time and India’s EV two-wheeler recorded a sales growth of 104,829 units in May 2023, with a month-on-month increase of 57% against sales of April 2023 marked at 66,724 units.
As a result, demand soared for the purchase of electric two-wheelers between May 23 (when retail sales were registered at 46,838 units) and May 31, a total of 57,991 units were sold.
Thereby accounting for 7,248 units sold in the last eight days of May!
As expected the top three OEMs namely, Ola Electric, TVS Motor Co and Ather Energy witnessed a stable rise in their monthly sales data, Bajaj Auto climbed the ladder to take fourth rank for the first time with a new record of 168% month-on-month increase in its EV Sales Growth in May 2023 to 9,910 units.
The top four EV-based OEMs also recorded their best-ever monthly sales yet.
Ola Electric announced a retail sale of 28,469 units comprising the S1 Pro and S1 e-scooters, eventually surpassing its previous record sales of 21,991 units in April 2023 by a margin of 29 percent.
Whereas TVS Motor Co’s iQube marked a new record while surpassing the 20,000-unit mark with 20,261 units sales recorded so far, recording 131% month-on-month growth over April’s 8,751 units.
On the other hand, Ather Energy witnessed a new monthly high in May 2023 with 15,266 units in sales, recording a 96% monthly increase over April’s 7,786 units.
Meanwhile, Ampere Vehicles saw a 15% rise in its EV Sales Growth in May 2023 with a record sale of 9,618 units, over April’s 8,324 units.
Combining the cumulative sales figures of five OEMs, in total 83,475 units of the total 104,755 EVs were sold in May, marking 80% of the share of the total sales since last month.
Other OEMs like Okaya EV (3,875 units), Okinawa Autotech (2,905 units), Hero Electric (2,109 units), Bgauss Auto (1,811 units), Battre Electric Mobility (1,199 units), Greaves Electric Mobility (1,155 units) and Lectrix EV (1,000 units) also witnessed growth in its EV sales.
Electric Three-Wheelers Segment Sales – May 2023
Known as one of the commercial units of the electric vehicle segment, three-wheeler EVs have seen EV Sales Growth in May 2023 with a record of 44,609 units.
This has set a new record as compared to its April 2023’s sales figures of 38,012 units with a monthly growth rate of 17%.
However, the figures were down to 1% of this year’s best monthly performance of 45,236 units recorded in March 2023.
India has seen tremendous growth in sales of electric three-wheelers largely due to sustained demand for passenger transportation and the expansion of last-mile operator services catering to e-commerce applications, food deliveries and others.
Mahindra Last Mile Mobility has been stable regarding the previous month’s sales as the EV Sales Growth in May 2023 was 4,050 units.
MLMM has expanded its expansion line with Treo e-three-wheelers at the Haridwar plant.
MLMM has currently six EVs on sale namely, the Treo, Treo Yaari and e-Alfa Mini for passenger transport and the Zor Grand, Treo Zor and the e-Alfa cargo for goods transport.
YC Electric has also secured its position in the first two months of FY2024 with 2,773 units in April and 3,244 units in May. Retailing major five products, namely Yatri Super, Yatri Deluxe and Yatri for passenger duties and E-Loader and Yatri Cart for cargo operations are benefiting from low initial product costs (from Rs 125,000 to 170,000 for passenger EVs, and Rs 130,000 to Rs 165,000).
Dilli Electric has snatched the third place with 2,078 units, up from fourth in April, and ahead of Saera Electric’s 2,061 units last month.
Some other players that have shown better EV registrations include Piaggio Vehicles at 1,654 units, Champion Polyplast at 1,218 units, Mini Metro at 1,202 units and Unique International at 1122 units.
Combined sales of these eight OEMs, recording four-figure retails are 16,628 units and they account for 37% of total electric three-wheeler sales in May 2023.
Electric Passenger Vehicles Sales —May 2023
Witnessing new sales growth in an electric car and SUV sub-segment, the Electric Passenger Vehicles sales were recorded at 7,414 units in May 2023, with a YoY growth of 150.50% as the sales record of May 2022 was at 2,961 units.
On the contrary, EV Sales Growth in May 2023 on a month-to-month basis was seen at 24.42% on April 2023’s 5,978 units.
Tata Motors has one of the biggest portfolios in India with the addition of Nexon EV, Tigor EV, Tiago EV and the Xpres-T (for fleet buyers), which are sold at a total of 5,815 units. Encompassing a strong hold on 78% share, Tata witnessed its new rival in Mahindra XUV400.
As per Vahan data, M&M, with its new electric car e-Verito, recorded EV Sales Growth in May 2023 at 364 units, with a market share of 5%.
MG Motor India on the other hand showcased a record sale of 437 units with a 6% share in May 20023.
Citroen eC3 retailer, PCA India has observed a sales record of 308 units, keeping it ahead of Hyundai Motor India with 165 units and BYD India with 138 units sales.
Electric Bus Sales — May 2023
Clocking a new high for this year, electric bus retails have touched the three-digit mark for EV Sales Growth in May 2023 with a total of 274 units, a 66% YoY increase as against May 2022 with record sales of 165 units.
Electric Bus sales also witnessed a 226% increase over April 2023’s 84 units sales.
January with 97 units, February with 98 units and March with 87 units had only touched double-digit sales this year.
This sudden jump in sales is majorly attributed to Tata Motors’ selling and delivering 109 buses, hence having a share of 39.78% of the e-bus market in May 2023.
JBM Auto recorded its sales at 52 units with a 19% share, ahead of PMI Electro Mobility at 48 units and Olectra Greentech at 39 units.