TVS Motor Co, which manufactures the BMW CE 02 e-scooter at its Hosur factory, accounts for 88% of the 5,633 made-in-India electric two-wheelers shipped to overseas markets in the first nine months of FY2025. With 672 units, Ather Energy is the No. 2 electric scooter exporter.
29 Jan 2025 | 3413 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
The export growth story of the Indian two-wheeler industry, which registered overseas dispatches of 3 million units, up 20% YoY, in April-December 2024, is also witnessing growing demand for made-in-India electric two-wheelers, particularly from TVS Motor Co and Ather Energy.
Of the total 445,657 scooters (up 16%) exported, ...
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The export growth story of the Indian two-wheeler industry, which registered overseas dispatches of 3 million units, up 20% YoY, in April-December 2024, is also witnessing growing demand for made-in-India electric two-wheelers, particularly from TVS Motor Co and Ather Energy.
Of the total 445,657 scooters (up 16%) exported, electric scooters account for 5,633 units and a 1.26% share. Of this, TVS Motor Co with exports of 4,959 EVs – 4,063 BMW CE 02s and 896 iQubes – commands the bulk (88%) of the exports. The remaining 674 units are accounted for by Ather Energy, which dispatched 672 e-scooters comprising the 450S, 450X, 450 Apex and the new Rizta. Bajaj Auto exported two Chetaks (see EV export data table below).
TVS’ EV exports continue to be powered by the BMW CE 02 electric scooter that it jointly manufactures with BMW Motorrad at its plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu and began exporting in April 2024, news which Autocar Professional had broken. The bulk (82%) of TVS’ EV exports in the first three-quarters of FY2025 comprise the BMW CE 02 – 4,063 units – with the balance 18% provided by the TVC iQube (896 units). It is expected that the bulk of these iQube exports have gone to Nepal, where TVS sells the zero-emission product through its authorised distributor Jagdamba Motors.
TVS Motor Co, which is the second largest two-wheeler exporter after Bajaj Auto, has a lot invested in the BMW CE 02 EV, whose platform has been jointly designed, developed and built by TVS and BMW Motorrad. It is the second jointly developed platform after the 310 series which has spawned the BMW G 310 R, BMW 310 GS, BMW G310 RR, along with TVS’ flagship motorcycles, Apache RR 310 and Apache RTR 310.
The 132kg BMW CE 02 develops 15hp, travels 90 kilometres on a single charge and has a claimed top speed of 95kph. Underpinnings are fairly simple with a double-loop steel tubular frame cradling the twin battery packs, suspended by a USD fork/monoshock setup. The BMW CE 02 uses a 296mm front disc, clamped down upon by a single-piston caliper and it only gets single-channel ABS. While the equipment is fairly basic, the CE 02 does get a single-sided swingarm and sends power to the rear wheel via a belt drive.
Strategic expansion into new markets
TVS, whose export footprint spans key markets across Asia, Africa and Latin America, has shipped 777,622 motorcycles, scooters and mopeds to overseas markets in the first nine months of FY2025, registering 19% YoY growth. The company has recently launched its products in Morocco. In the past year, the company has strategically entered new markets like Nepal, Vietnam, France and Italy.