Battery Related Fires Singe Sale of E Scooters In May

The surging demand for electric scooters seems to have been affected by the spate of battery fires across the country since summer started in earnest. Quality concerns have definitely come to the fore among prospective customers. While rising petrol prices have been pushing more and more people to shift to an electric scooter, the recent incidents have had an adverse effect on sales, with Ola and Hero Electric reporting a decline of up to 50% in May.

Sale of electric scooters in May 2022

Source: VAHAN

Hero Electric reports the biggest decline in the sale during May. The sales of Hero Electric have come down from 6,578 units in April to 2,739 in May, a decrease of over 58% month-on-month. Ola has lost nearly a third of its sales. Ola Electric has reported a decline of over 30% in May. The company sold 8,681 scooters in May, compared to sales of 12,702 in April. While the company has reported a huge decline, it still dominates the electric scooter segment.

Sales of Okinawa and Ampere also decline Okinawa and Ampere have also reported a decline in May. While Okinawa has reported a decline of 19.28%, Ampere has reported a decline of 15.46% in May.
Ola and Hero’s loss is Ather’s gain.

At a time when other companies have reported a decline, Ather has reported a substantial increase in sales. The sales of Ather scooters have increased from 2,450 in April to 3,098 in May, a 26.45% increase. While there have been no incidents involving Ather so far, a fire was reported at the company’s Chennai centre. The company has claimed that the incident is “extremely rare” and is unlikely to occur again. The government is currently investigating the cause of electric fires in the scooters and is expected to announce a new policy to ensure a better quality of batteries and scooters.