Legacy two-wheeler manufacturers TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Greaves Electric, Kinetic Green and Honda sell 351,717 e-2Ws in January-June 2025, well ahead of the Top 20 startups led by Ola Electric and Ather Energy, which with 242,112 units have a 40% market share in the first half of the current calendar year which looks well set to surpass CY2024's record sales of 1.14 million units.
03 Jul 2025 | 946 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
This year looks like it is going to be another record-setting one for the Indian electric two-wheeler industry. Between January 1 and June 30, 2025, a total of 605,291 e-2Ws have been sold across India, as per retail sales numbers on the Vahan portal. This constitutes 15% year-on-year growth (H1 ...
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This year looks like it is going to be another record-setting one for the Indian electric two-wheeler industry. Between January 1 and June 30, 2025, a total of 605,291 e-2Ws have been sold across India, as per retail sales numbers on the Vahan portal. This constitutes 15% year-on-year growth (H1 CY2024: 528,133 units) and is 53% of CY2024’s record sales of 1.14 million e-2Ws.
The Indian e-2W industry, which is the mover and shaker of the overall EV industry volume-wise, accounts for 40% of the total 15,14,836 EVs retailed across segments in the first half of CY2025. Intrepid startups like Ather Energy and Ola Electric, recognising the large potential of e-mobility on two-wheelers were the first to market, and have been joined in the recent past by a number of other startups with some of them being manufacturers of electric motorcycles.
Since the past three years, the e-2W industry has witnessed legacy ICE players, which have diversified into EVs on two wheels, take on the startup competition in the zero-emission game. Arch rivals Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor Co were the first legacy OEMs to bite the EV bullet, both having launched their products – the Bajaj Chetak and TVS iQube – in January 2020. Since then, both companies have taken giant strides with their two-wheeled EVs and are currently engaged in an intense battle for leadership.
Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest two-wheeler OEM, entered the fray rather belatedly with its Vida brand in early 2022 albeit it had invested in Bengaluru-based smart e-scooter startup Ather Energy in 2016, starting with a 30% equity stake. More recently, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and Suzuki India have plugged into the e-2W market albeit it is early days for them yet.
Autocar Professional’s e-2W retail sales analysis of June 2025 reveals that the Top 10 players comprise 4 legacy OEMs and 6 startups, albeit the TVS-Bajaj-Hero MotoCorp and Greaves Electric combine is considerably ahead in volume over Ola, Ather, Bgauss Auto, Pur Energy, River Mobility and Revolt Motors.
LEGACY OEMS COMMAND 58% OF INDIA’S E-2W MARKET vs 40% BY TOP 20 STARTUPS
As the legacy OEM-wise and startup-wise retail sales table above indicates, the Top 6 legacy OEMs with combined sales of 351,717 units and a 58% share of total e-2W sales in H1 CY2025 have outsold their Top 20 startup rivals by 109,605 units. The 20 startups’ combined sales add up to 242,112 units, which gives them a 40% share of the market. The remaining and minuscule 2% portion of the e-2W market is being fought for by 175 other players. Clearly, the competition in this segment is intense.
TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto, both of whom have expanded their model line-up with new variants in the past month, are engaged in an intense battle for leadership. TVS, which has been the No. 1 e-2W OEM for three straight months – April-May-June 2025 – slashed the prices of its iQube in May, a move which has given it increased market traction. But the Bajaj Chetak is close behind.
Halfway into CY2025, the two companies are separated by only 1,385 units – TVS: 143,764 iQubes / Bajaj Auto: 143,379 Chetaks – and have a similar 24% market share. Hero MotoCorp, which has upped the ante with the launch of its affordable, family-centric new Vida VX2 e-scooter on July 1, has clocked sales of 33,363 units in January-June 2025 for a 5.51% market share. Greaves Electric Mobility, with 25,347 units, has a 4% share while Kinetic Green (5,614 units) has a 1% share. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, which plugged into the e-2W arena five months ago with its Activa-e and QC1 scooters, has sold 1,250 units till end-June.
Ola Electric, which not too long ago led the market, is now at No. 3 position and leads the Top 20 Startups table with 115,200 units (19% market share), followed by Ather Energy (81,601 units, 14% market share). Bgauss Auto (9,593 units) and Pur Energy (9,171 units) are ranked third and fourth on the startup ladder-board and have a similar 1.15% market share. Electric motorcycle manufacturer Revolt Motors, which recently rolled out its 50,000 zero-emission bike from its Manesar plant and launched its new RV-Blaze X in February, has sold 5,497 units in H1 CY2025. It is followed by River Mobility, which has clocked its best-ever monthly sales of 1,246 units in June, is Startup No. 6 with 5,027 units. The 14 other startups add another 16,023 units to the Top 10 startup total of 242,112 units for the first half of 2025.
Not very long ago, it was felt that EV startups on two wheels, with their perceived absence of legacy issues, IT technology prowess, venture capital investments and the ability to burn cash to get a foothold in the market, would stamp their dominance on this segment of zero-emission mobility. However, TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp, the top three legacy ICE OEMs which have invested heavily into e-mobility in full earnest, are proving to be a resilient lot and are giving the two-wheeler startup world a run for their money and plenty more. Japanese majors Honda and Suzuki too have recently entered the market. These well-established legacy OEMs, which have a strong R&D setup and component supplier base, are clearly benefiting from their growing localisation levels, introduction of new variants, brand power and, importantly, the marketing strength that comes from a large dealer network spread across India.
Where startups have a head-start in the Indian e-2W industry is in the electric motorcycle arena. While none of the six legacy OEMs barring TVS (with its X motorcycle which is yet to be introduced in the market) and Hero MotoCorp, which is collaborating with the USA’s Zero Motorcycles for electric bikes, have launched a zero-emission motorcycle, a number of startups including Ola Electric, Revolt Motors, Oben Electric, Odysse EV and Ultraviolette Automotive (in which TVS has a stake) have launched their e-motorcycles with varying degree of success, some doing better than the others.
The battle between old and new OEMs for the electric two-wheeler buyers will continue in good earnest this year. Stay plugged in as we bring you the latest news, views and analysis on this exciting eco-friendly segment of two-wheeled motoring.