With distribution expansion and new models underway, Matter Motor Works is betting that the next EV wave won’t ride on scooters.
16 Sep 2025 | 14269 Views | By Darshan Nakhwa & Kiran Murali
When electric motorcycle startup Matter Motor Works Pvt Ltd, was founded by Mohal Lalbhai in 2019, the electric two-wheeler market in India was still at a nascent stage. Barely 30,000 units were being sold annually, and scooters were seen as the natural spearhead of electrification.
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When electric motorcycle startup Matter Motor Works Pvt Ltd, was founded by Mohal Lalbhai in 2019, the electric two-wheeler market in India was still at a nascent stage. Barely 30,000 units were being sold annually, and scooters were seen as the natural spearhead of electrification.
Startups such as Ather Energy and Okinawa had entered early, Hero Electric was the established volume player, and Ola Electric was preparing to enter the scooter space. Motorcycles, the dominant category of Indian two-wheelers, were almost entirely missing from the electrification conversation. Lalbhai saw that omission as both a challenge and an opportunity.
“The idea was never about chasing a hot segment,” he says. “Scooters already had global technology solutions, from China to Europe. But motorcycles, which are 60-70% of India’s two-wheeler market, had no one solving for them. Motorcycles are tougher to engineer than scooters, and this is where India’s heart lies. Indians want SUVs on two wheels.”
Six years on, the Ahmedabad-based startup is attempting to close that gap. Its debut product, the Aera, is India’s first geared electric motorcycle, designed to sit squarely in the commuter-premium 150-200cc segment. The Aera is only the beginning. The company is now preparing for a much larger push, expanding distribution, building a family of motorcycles, introducing swappable battery solutions, preparing for exports, and laying the foundations for profitability in one of the toughest automotive markets in the world.
Expanding Distribution
This year, Matter’s focus is squarely on distribution growth. The company, which currently sells only in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Pune, plans to scale up to 50 sales-and-service touchpoints by the end of the year, concentrated in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In 2026, the company aims to expand its footprint to 150 outlets, covering north and northeast India.
“What’s interesting is that demand (for electric twowheelers) is split almost evenly between urban and rural India,” Lalbhai explains. “So we’re planning for balance right from the beginning.” With that network in place, Matter expects to reach annual sales of 45,000-50,000 units by next year, a sharp step up from its pilot volumes today.
In FY25, India’s electric twowheeler market crossed the onemillion- unit milestone for the first time, with 1.15 million vehicles sold, up 21% year-on-year. Legacy manufacturers like TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto, along with new-age players such as Ola Electric and Ather Energy, intensified the battle for market share through a spate of model launches across segments. Yet, motorcycles accounted for less than five percent of total sales. Matter is betting that this imbalance won’t last long.
Building Product Portfolio
The Aera gave Matter a distinctive entry point, but the company is working on a top-down portfolio strategy. By Diwali 2026, it plans to launch a 150cc-equivalent motorcycle, followed a year later by a 125cc version. Both will be built on the company’s M1 platform, which also underpins the Aera. In parallel, Matter is investing in the M2 platform, designed for battery-swapping. “For the 125cc category, swappability is non-negotiable,” Lalbhai says. “Within five years, we will offer both fixed and swappable options in 125cc and 150cc-equivalent motorcycles.”
This approach also paves the way for a Battery-as-a-Service model, easing the burden of upfront costs by shifting batteries into a subscription plan. Coupled with Matter’s lifetime battery warranty, the goal is to reassure consumers about long-term reliability–a concern that continues to hold back many EV buyers.
Export Horizons
While India is the immediate focus, Matter’s ambition is global. This year the company will be pushing the sales of the Aera model in the domestic market, and is likely to start looking at export markets from next year. Lalbhai noted that the company will explore countries in Southeast Asia, Eastern and Southern Europe, East Africa and Latin America. Different geographies, Lalbhai notes, demand different displacements.
“Europe is better suited for a 200cc equivalent product like the Aera 5000+, while Africa and Southeast Asia will likely adopt the 125cc and 150cc bikes. We will go segment by segment, region by region.” Indonesia, among the world’s largest motorcycle markets, is a natural target but also a highly competitive one. For Matter, the export plan is less about rushing in and more about matching the right product to the right market.
Why e-Motorcycles Lag e-Scooters
India’s electric scooter market has already crossed the chasm. Ola, Bajaj, TVS and Ather are not just selling in the thousands but in many cities are outselling conventional scooters. Motorcycles, by contrast, remain a rarity on the EV map. Lalbhai argues that this is less about demand and more about product availability and consumer awareness.
“We are where scooters were four years ago. Customers don’t even know electric motorcycles exist. Once they ride one, the convenience becomes real, you charge at home from a 5-amp socket. You don’t have to visit a petrol pump. These small things change mindsets.” Most motorcycle use in India, he notes, is intra-city. Few riders cross 70 kilometers a day, making range anxiety less of a concern than commonly perceived.
“Motorcycles are just as well-suited for electrification as scooters, if not more,” Lalbhai insists. Industry experts, however, caution that the road ahead is steep for the electric motorcycle segment. By FY30, electric scooters could make up as much as 60% of scooter sales in India, while electric motorcycles may still account for only around 10% of the motorcycle market.
"It’s tough to build an e-motorcycle that combines the performance riders expect, while also keeping the price below Rs 1 lakh. Even established OEMs are struggling to achieve that balance,” an analyst said.
Steering Clear of Premium Segment
Matter is strategically focusing on its product development with no immediate plans to venture into the electric scooter or premium motorcycle segments. “That (premium) segment does 10 lakh units a year (including ICE and EV), of which Royal Enfield alone sells 8 lakh. The balance is split between the world’s strongest brands– Harley-Davidson, Triumph, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and others,” Lalbhai says.
“With sales of 10 electric bikes a month, an OEM might feel good that they have cracked it because the percentage will be very high. But 10 bikes does not make for a sustainable business,” he adds. Instead, Matter’s focus is firmly on commuter motorcycles, the true mass of the Indian market. It currently competes with electric motorcycle makers including Revolt Motors, Oben Electric and Ola Electric with its less than 200cc equivalent motorcycle. Apart from Matter, Ola, Revolt and Ultraviolette, Ather is also gearing up to launch electric motorcycles.
The Bengaluru-based startup is working on a platform named Zenith to support new electric motorcycles targeting the 125-300 cc segment users. Among traditional players, Royal Enfield, with its Flying Flea brand, and Hero MotorCorp, which has a partnership with US-based electric motorcycle maker Zero, are set to enter the electric motorcycle space in 2026.
Navigating Rare Earth Turbulence
Global EV supply chains are notoriously vulnerable, and Matter has already had to adjust. China’s recent curbs on heavy rare earth magnet exports, used in motors, unsettled many manufacturers. Lalbhai insists Matter had prepared for this. “The problem was real. More importantly, we’re working with a North American partner on an alternative material, something between ferrite and heavy rare earth. Performance will remain the same, costs will be at par or lower, and we won’t be completely dependent on China.”
Because Matter designs its motors and software entirely in-house, it has the flexibility to recalibrate quickly. “70% of our project effort went into fine-tuning software characteristics, not just making the motor spin,” Lalbhai says. “That gives us an edge.”
The Profitability Game
Profitability is the elephant in the EV room. Many electric two-wheeler startups remain in the red despite strong growth in sales, while few legacy players are closer to turning profitable. Matter believes its slower, vertically integrated approach is the antidote. By designing all core technologies in-house, it avoids the royalties and vendor margins that eat into competitor economics.
“It’s taken us six years, but we don’t bleed through high component costs. We control everything,” Lalbhai says. Still, scale is non-negotiable. “Selling 5,000-15,000 units a month is not automotive scale. The real scale begins at 50,000 units. We expect EBITDA breakeven when we hit 20,000-30,000 monthly units,” he says.