Hero Electric becomes best selling EV maker in India, trumps Ola and Okinawa

Hero Electric outsold Okinawa Autotech, Ola Electric, and Ather Energy in the sale of electric two-wheelers in July, with Ather Energy and Ola Electric suffering the most significant decline as consumers put off buying EVs in response to battery fire incidents and government investigations. Ather Energy experienced the worst decline among EV producers, selling just 1,095 electric two-wheelers as of July 30 compared to 3,829 in June, according to the most recent VAHAN data.

The Bhavish Aggarwal-run Ola Electric sold 3,690 vehicles (till July 30), a significant drop from 5,891 vehicles in the month of June. The company has sold 45,698 vehicles to date this year. At its peak, before the fire episodes rocked the nation, Ola Electric had sold 12,705 EVs in April and 9,258 in May.

Hero Electric led the EV two-wheeler market in the country with a registration of 8,474 vehicles, up from 6,504 in June. It has sold 52,559 vehicles this year, indicating an uptick in its vehicles.Okinawa was second, selling 7,717 EV 2-wheelers in July, up from 6,984 it sold in June. The company has so far sold 54,835 EVs this year (till July 30).

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Ampere Vehicles Pvt Ltd, which sold 6,542 vehicles in June saw a drop in July to 5,980 vehicles, with a total tally of 39,769 sold this year, according to the VAHAN data. Last month, Ola Electric said they were prepared to see the impact of supply chain constraints, especially on cell shortage.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari last week told Parliament that all those EV two-wheelers companies had been served show-cause notices whose vehicles caught fire owing to battery issues.

He said that the Ministry had constituted a committee of experts to suggest safety standards for batteries, battery components, and related systems.

Based on the information on fire incidents available, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a show-cause notice to the CEOs and MDs of the concerned two-wheeler electric scooter manufacturers to explain the reasons why the relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act should not be invoked against them.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), which comes under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, said this week that it issued notices to four to five EV two-wheeler makers in the light of several complaints raised by the consumers over battery explosions and fire incidents.

The CCPA received several complaints from EV two-wheeler buyers. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has also been informed. A DRDO probe had revealed defects in battery cells as well as battery design in nearly all EV fires.

With inputs from IANS