NEW DELHI: Two of India’s largest electric two-wheeler makers — Hero Electric and Okinawa Autotech — are seeing a spike in demand for their EV products amid skyrocketing fuel prices. To be sure, petrol prices have gone up by Rs 4.87 per litre in the first two months of 2021.
“Over the last couple of months, since fuel prices hit an all-time high, we have seen an increased footfall across all our dealerships in major towns and cities. Consumers walking in are definitely looking at electric two-wheelers over ICE (internal combustion engine) bikes because of long term savings... We have seen our inquiries go up by 50 per cent, eventually leading to a healthy number purchasing the bikes,” Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric told this publication.
Similarly, Okinawa Autotech said they have witnessed a 30 per cent increase in sales and a close to a three-fold rise in enquiries in the recent months.
“The recent hike in fuel prices has further pushed consumers to look for alternate options such as electric vehicles. We as a company have witnessed the hike and aim to provide the electric vehicles that are at par with the ICE engine,” said Jeetender Sharma, MD & Founder, Okinawa Autotech.
Data from dealers’ body FADA shows retail sales of electric two-wheelers have grown 170 per cent in February 2021 to 6,059 units as against 2,243 units sold in the same month last year. Hero led the sales with 36.3 per cent market share. On the contrary, petrol-run two-wheeler sales fell 16 per cent in February over the previous year.
Despite this growth, the share of e2W in total domestic two-wheeler sales remains less than 1 per cent. The volumes have also not come anywhere close to the FAME II target of 1 million e-two-wheelers by March 2022.