Shifting sands of India’s electric two wheeler industry

In September 2024, the Ministry of Heavy Industries notified PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) Scheme with an outlay of Rs 10,900 crore. It is a two-year scheme which aims to support electric vehicles including e-2W, e-3W, e-trucks, e-buses, e-ambulances, EV public charging stations and upgradation of testing agencies.

The Phased Manufacturing Program (PMP) (initiated in 2022) which outlines the localisation of EV components over time, was continued with as a push towards Make in India.

Provisions were made to ensure compliance by the OEMs. Undertaking in the form of an Integrity pact was taken from applicant OEMs to obviate any malpractices in the financial matters. Annual strip down test / Periodic Surveillance Assessment (PSA) were conducted by testing agencies to check compliance to PMP. It’s at this stage that anomalies were noticed. But before we come to that, a brief look into the past.

A brief look into the past

In the summer of 2022, Jeetender Sharma controlled Okinawa Autotech was India’s No-1 selling electric two-wheeler brand. The company had even announced the setting up of a mega factory in Karoli, Rajasthan.  The mega factory was to roll out 1 million units of electric two wheelers each year. Okinawa had even signed a joint venture agreement with Tacita, an Italian manufacturer of electric performance and cruiser motorcycles. The new company was to begin production in India from 2023.

Take the case of Hero Electric. In 2023 it was India's leading electric two-wheeler company and a leader in city speed e-mobility. The company had disclosed that it would enter the premium e-bike segment in India through the A2B brand.

Not only had the company two plants in Ludhiana, Punjab, it had announced raising its annual production capacity to 1 million units. In 2022, the Naveen Munjal controlled Hero Motors had rolled out its first batch of electric scooters from Mahindra Group’s Pithampur plant in Madhya Pradesh. Hero Electric had announced its 5-year partnership with Mahindra as part of its growth and expansion plans to cater to the growing demand for E2Ws in the country.

As for the LML brand, it was bought by Yogesh Bhatia controlled SG Corporate Mobility Pvt.Ltd.  SG Corporate owned Detel, the flagship brand that was into electronic consumer products and electric two-wheeler that went by the name of Detel Easy Plus. LML Electric India had some ambitious plans on the electric two wheeler space in the country.

Early 2022, LML Electric tied up with Saera Electric, makers of Yogo bikes. Saera Electric Auto was involved in the manufacturing of various passenger and cargo e-rickshaws, electric two-wheelers, and agricultural equipment, using green technology. The company was also engaged in the manufacturing of automobile components with clients like Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra and New Holland Tractors, among others. The group was also involved with Harley-Davidson India at its Bawal factory in Haryana where Harley-Davidson motorcycles were assembled. Harley had by then shut shop in the country and was selling its bikes through Hero MotoCorp outlets in a strategic alliance. LML had planned to build a future-ready manufacturing facility using Saera's cutting-edge technology and processes. This was the first of many steps for LML to transition into a 100% ‘Make in India’ company by end of 2025.

The early 2020s also saw Omega Seiki Mobility Pvt. Ltd. (OSM), part of Anglian Omega Group of companies, unveiling its first two-wheeler electric scooter Zoro and Fiare. The company also talked about a possible Korean tie up of a global stature. The Founder of Omega Seiki Mobility Uday Narang had then revealed that a Korean brand would be setting base in India for manufacturing electric two wheelers.

Then there was Tork Motors, who ideated to take the electric mobility space to a whole new level. Companies like Benling India and WardWizard with its Joy e-bike sub brand too were part of the initial race in the electric two wheeler space. In 2020, Ola, one of the world’s leading mobility platforms, signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for an investment of Rs 2,400 crore in setting up its first factory in the state. Upon completion, the factory was to create almost 10,000 jobs and the world’s largest scooter manufacturing facility, which would initially have an annual capacity of 2 million units. The Bhavish Aggarwal controlled company, Ola Electric had aimed to make India a manufacturing hub for electric vehicles.

By 2022, Ultraviolette Automotive, a Bengaluru based company, launched an electric two wheeler motorcycle in the niche high speed segment. The F77 has since become a name to reckon with in India and abroad. In March 2025, the company unveiled the Tesseract, the world's most advanced scooter. Within just two weeks of its global unveiling, the Tesseract surpassed 50,000 pre-bookings. By September 2025, the company launched the X-47 crossover electric motorcycle. With initial funding from TVS Motor and others, Ultraviolette has a long way to go in terms of becoming a profitable company.

Similarly, as early as 2019, Revolt Intellicorp Pvt Ltd, founded by former Micromax mobile phone company co-founder Rahul Sharma, unveiled RV400, touted as India’s first Artificial Intelligence enabled motorcycle. A few years later, the company was fully acquired by Rattan India Enterprises Ltd. Revolt Motors electric two wheeler models include RV1, RV1+, RV400 and RV BlazeX. Despite an early mover advantage, the company barely sells around 10,000 units annually (sales in CY 2025). It is hoping to sell around 40,000 units in CY 2026.

Oben Electric too was an early entrant in the electric two wheeler race. Founded by Madhumita and Dinkar Agrawal, Oben Electric, a Bengaluru (Karnataka) based E2W manufacturer launched its first electric performance motorcycle- ‘Rorr’ in 2022. In August 2025, it launched the Rorr EZ Sigma. Unfortunately sales of this company have been extremely limited.

Ketan Mehta founded Hop Electric Mobility, which launched two electric scooter models Hop Leo and Hop LYF in 2021 has a 40,000 square feet manufacturing unit in Jaipur, Rajasthan which is equipped to produce 50,000 vehicles per year, expandable up to 1 lakh units. Its plans to set up a new manufacturing unit in South India have yet to fructify. In 2023, the company announced the launch of its electric motorcycle - Hop Oxo. The company manages to sell a few thousand units every year.

By the beginning 2026, the e2w space had completely changed. Projections made by e2w companies had fallen flat in many cases. A couple of prominent players even shut shop. The remaining players have drastically pruned their ambitious plans or have redrawn their strategies in the electric two wheeler space. Call it the shifting sands of India’s e2w industry.

The EV Mirage: Where did the pioneers vanish?

It all started with the stringency of the Government’s FAME II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) subsidy. The policy introduced strict localisation norms via the Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP). In the early 2020s, most of the electric two wheeler brands relied heavily on a supply chain that leaned on imports. Post FAME II, with the Government carefully monitoring the players in the electric vehicle space, the chinks in the companies’ armour started being exposed.

To qualify for the FAME II subsidies, the government mandated a Phased Manufacturing Programme. This meant that at least 50 per cent of the components of the EVs were to be sourced from Indian suppliers. However, an investigation by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) later in 2022 revealed something alarming.

Several of these manufacturers were sourcing most of the components from China and yet deceptively claimed the incentives. These e2W makers were importing core components like motors, controllers and battery packs from China while slapping "Made in India" labels on these components.

By December 2024, the SFIO while concluding the search operation confirmed that Hero Electric, Okinawa and Benling had apparently fraudulently availed subsidies worth Rs 297 crore cumulatively by falsifying compliance documents.

Perhaps the most high profile casualty in this was Hero Electric. Once a prominent player in the e2W space, was forced to collapse almost overnight. The e2W maker was ordered to return Rs 133.8 crore in misappropriated subsidies. The company was forced to switch off its operations, and by October 2024, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) initiated insolvency proceedings against the firm over unpaid dues to suppliers. As per the Vahaan Portal, Hero Electric’s yearly sales fell from 30,000 units in 2024 to just 519 by the end of 2025. To put this in perspective, Hero Electric went from being the number 1 EV manufacturer in India (2021-2022) to being virtually non-existent on the charts by 2026.

A similar trajectory was seen with Okinawa Autotech, which too was forced to pay Rs 116.85 crore. Moreover, the blow from the SFIO probe was even higher due to the fact that Okinawa Autotech made its brand identity by calling its products “Made in India”. Upon further inspection, it was found that the company had also not paid its dues to the dealers as well as the brand associates. In terms of sales, Vahan Portal data shows that the electric two wheeler maker’s yearly sales fell from 31,000 units in 2023 to just 2,221 in 2025.

While Hero Electric’s existence has been eliminated with its website being taken down, Okinawa’s website on the other hand is still up with products being listed on it. However, the website shows that the products will be ‘available soon’ when attempting to buy one. Benling is another electric two wheeler maker who was forced to pay out its misappropriated subsidies, which in this case was Rs 48.42 crore. This led to a layoff of 50 per cent of its workforce and ultimately shutting shops for its electric two wheeler division. However, under the Benling India brand, the company now sells watches along with bags and accessories.

The story of Tork Motors and WardWizard (Joy e-bike) is different though. Tork Motor’s debutante product, the Kratos was aimed at being India’s first performance focused, ‘Isle of Man’ standard electric motorcycle. While the product was launched for Rs 1.30 lakh, ex-showroom, the company struggled with its production. Due to lack of funds, the bike maker had to halt productions, cancel bookings before eventually shutting shops in 2024.

In November 2025, the NCLT Mumbai bench initiated insolvency proceedings against Tork following its failure to pay operational creditors. The brand's presence on the road has effectively reached zero, with only 2 units registered in the whole of 2025. Meanwhile, WardWizard, which caters to multiple industries including automotive, hospitality and healthcare, has had a “focus fatigue." As per sources, the group diverted resources into hospitality and healthcare, resulting in freefall of Joy e-bike’s retails. As of 2026, though the brand still exists, the sales have plummeted to 4,288 units in 2025, with the majority of the customers coming from the B2B fleet.

Ola Electric, once touted to take over the electric two wheeler space in India, has shown a 51 per cent drop in retail sales according to FADA sales report. While in calendar year 2024, the company sold 407700 units in the country and was the clear leader in this e2w space, in 2025, the company’s sales had dropped to 199318, relegating it to the fourth place in the sales chart.

The triumph of real engineering

The scenario paints a clear picture - it is only real engineering and proper planning that matters in the long run. Ather, which was founded in 2013, didn’t start selling its products until 2018. And since then the electric two-wheeler startup has steadily grown its strides, growing by 58 per cent in 2025 with total sales of over 2 lakh units, making it the third largest electric two wheeler maker in India. But Ather has been getting a substantial funding from Hero MotoCorp. The latter now has almost a 35 per cent equity stake in Ather Energy.

Meanwhile TVS and Bajaj, that weren’t among the first movers, are the clear leaders in the e2w space in the country. Experience matters, no doubt. But so do strategies, funding and an honest intent. The churning is not yet over. It’s going to be a long drawn battle for the players in the e2w space in India. .