Ola Electric’s sales collapse in a booming electric two-wheeler market

What is not clear is how many units were registered in April alone. The company had sold 25,000 vehicles in February but was able to register only 8,500 units due to issues with its registration partners, leaving a backlog of around 16,000 units. Even in March, all the vehicles sold were not registered.

Despite some of this backlog being cleared in April, the company saw more than 40% decline in sales in the month, indicating that the number of vehicles sold and registered only in April would be lower than the 19,709 figure.

“The company shared that it has nearly cleared the February backlog and expects to complete the remaining February-March registrations in April 2025," Ola Electric said in a statement on 1 April.

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It is not clear whether the company has cleared the entire backlog.

Ola’s April numbers offer stark contrast to the 50,000 unit monthly target (to achieve profitability) mentioned by the chief executive officer Bhavish Agarwal during an earnings call on 7 February. “We do feel in the next few quarters, we can get to about 50,000 monthly sales, which takes us to an auto segment Ebitda positive," Aggarwal said after the Q3FY25 results. Ebitda is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.

Queries to Ola Electric remained unanswered.

Ola sales peaked at 53,647 units in March 2024 and the company has since been losing market share to legacy rivals such as TVS and Bajaj Auto. With sales dipping through the financial year (FY25), the Bengaluru-based firm saw its market share in electric two-wheelers crash from 52.11% in April 2024 to 21.47% in April 2025.

However, from an FY25 perspective, Ola Electric remains the market leader, having sold 344,009 units during the fiscal. Primary rivals TVS, Bajaj and Ather recorded 237,576, 230,806 and 130,944 unit sales, respectively.

Market surge

Compared to Ola’s falling sales, the overall e2w market last month saw a 40% rise in sales to 91,794 vehicles from 65,555 units in April 2024.

Rival TVS, the top seller in April, saw a 154% year-on-year surge in sales to19,739 unitsin the month,per data from Vahan. Bajaj Auto saw a 151% increase in sales to19,001 unitsduring the same period. IPO-bound Ather Energy also recorded a 217% year-on-year rise in sales to 13,167 units last month.

“The presence of the PM E-drive scheme, a long-term policy incentive, this year bolstered electric two-wheeler sales," said Alok Rai, director of public affairs at the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV). “In April last year, consumers were left with a short-term EMPS for subsidies, leading to lower sales."

EMPS refers to the Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme, which was announced in March 2024, in an effort to continue subsidies for electric vehicles after the second iteration of the FAME scheme. EMPS was originally supposed to run till June 2024, but was later extended for another three months till September. It was later subsumed in the PM E-drive scheme.

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Under the PM E-drive scheme, which will be operational till FY26, the government would provide a maximum of ₹10,000 subsidy per electric two-wheeler sold in FY25, and a maximum of ₹5,000 per unit in FY26.

Rai also said the robust dealer network operated by legacy automakers played a crucial part in increasing their market share.

However, Ola lost market share despite rapidly increasing its store counts and service centres. An investor presentation released on 1 April by Ola showed that its store count increased from just about 870 in March 2024 to 4,436 in March 2025, a growth of nearly 410% within one year.

“Until the company is able to sort its issues and start growing volumes, investors will not be bullish on the company. Its regulatory issues are also weighing on the psyche of investors," said Avinash Gorakshakar, head of research at Profitmart, a brokerage. “The current financial year is crucial for them. The management should focus on how to turn profitable."

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In the October to December period, Ola Electric’s loss increased to ₹564 crore from ₹376 crore in the year ago period.

Registration issues

Ola Electric has been struggling to register the vehicles it claims to have sold in February due to the termination of contracts with two registration agencies. Since then, the company has moved its process inhouse.

Due to the disruption in the registration process, the waiting time for its vehicles increased from about a week to 20-45 days in February and March, as per Mint’s inquiry at seven stores in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

The company clarified in an exchange filing that the average delivery time of the company is set to reduce from 12 days to 3-4 days due to its inhouse registration process.

The discrepancy in its registration and sales numbers has landed Ola Electric in a regulatory soup. The company is facing inquiries from the ministry of heavy industries, ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), and market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.

As per a disclosure the company made to the MoRTH in March, the company recorded 1,395 units of its new motorcycle model RoadsterX in its February sales numbers. Deliveries of the vehicles will start from this month.

This means that the customers who fully paid for the orders of RoadsterX have been waiting for the new bikes for more than 60 days.

In the past few weeks, complaints have started to pour in against the company on social media for delaying the deliveries of vehicles.

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