The Top 5: Electric Three-wheeler Manufacturers in India

The Indian electric vehicle segment, just like the rest of the world, has shown an enthusiastic uptick over the last few years. The country’s three-wheeler EV market is one of the segments with the highest potential in electric mobility as the country notched up a record 45 per cent share in total EV sales in fiscal 2022. A lot of EV manufacturing firms are already in the race of topping the charts of the Indian three-wheeler industry. This article lists the topmost of those three-wheeler manufacturing firms in India.

India registered electric vehicle retails of over 4 lakh units in 2021-22, which is about a three-fold rise from 1,34,821 units in the financial year 2020-21. Out of that electric three-wheeler recorded sales of roughly 1,80,000 units.
Further, the Indian market for EVs is mostly driven by two-wheelers and low-speed three-wheelers sharing together about 90 per cent of the total EV sales. Moreover, segment-wise contribution looked like this – two-wheelers sharing 48 per cent, L3 or e-carts (speed less than 25kmph) for 45 per cent, L5 (speed more than 25kmph) constituted 3 per cent, while four-wheelers were just at 4 per cent.

Electric three-wheeler market is largely unorganized in India, most being start-ups or just entering the three wheeler segment. Here’s a list of the top electric three-wheeler manufacturers in India who show promise or have already taken the lead.

#1 Mahindra Electric Mobility Limited

Based in Bangalore, Mahinda Electric holds the crown of the biggest manufacturer of electric three-wheeler in the country. On its mission to electrify Indian mobility, Mahindra & Mahindra partnered with Reva Electric Car Company as early as 2010, eventually becoming Mahindra Electric Mobility.

The popular new models in the electric three-wheeler market from Mahindra are Mahindra Alpha Mini, Mahindra Treo Zor and the electric Mahindra Treo. In February 2022, the firm sold 772 three-wheelers, more than 67 per cent growth over the same period last year. Though YoY sales have improved, MoM sales are down by more than 14 per cent as the company managed to sell 901 units in January 2022.

#2 Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd

Small commercial vehicle maker Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd (PVPL) has become the market leader in the electric three-wheeler cargo segment in the first half of FY22.

The Pune-based automaker launched its FX range in February 2022, which offers both the cargo and the passenger segments. Following this, the company claimed that it had gained 55 per cent of the cargo electric three-wheelers market. As per Piaggio, the passenger vehicle Apé E-City FX is the most profitable three-wheeler for its customers.
Piaggio has expressed its commitment towards sustainable mobility endorsing the Swachh Bharat Mission. It has developed institutional and government applications with EV garbage tipper as the first of its kind vehicle for the Swachh Bharat application. With a manufacturing plant at Baramati in Maharashtra, it has an installed annual production capacity of over 380,000 commercial vehicles. Its offerings include India’s most powerful electric 3-wheeler cargo – Ape E-city and Ape E-Xtra.

#3 Euler Motors

Euler Motors is a Delhi- based start-up that was launched in 2018 by Saurav Kumar. Claiming it to be the most powerful electric cargo three-wheeler in the country, recently, the company launched Hi-Load EV, its first electric 3-wheeler in the cargo segment.

Electric three-wheeler makers Euler Motors targets revenues of INR 300 crore for FY23, which means the firm has to sell around 8,500 of its Hi-Load electric three-wheelers meant for ferrying goods. It is almost 15 times more than FY22 revenue. Its operations now cover more than 10 cities and are on a steep rise. Fortunately, the prospects look positive as the company already has an order book of around 3,500 units. Most of its orders come from institutional buyers like Flipkart and Ecom Express.

#4 Kinetic Green

Kinetic Green Energy & Power Solution Ltd is planning to set up a two- and three-wheeler electric vehicle manufacturing unit in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Further, the firm has established an electric vehicle manufacturing unit with a production capacity of 6,000 vehicles in Ahmed Nagar near Pune.

Last year, the company launched Kinetic Safar Jumbo, India’s first high-performance electric cargo three-wheeler. Such initiatives show a bright future for the Pune based automaker.

#5 Atul Motors

Atul Motors offers a good range of electric three-wheeler mobility options in India to support electric development. In the electric 3-wheeler range, the company introduced “Elite” for the Indian market. In February, Atul Auto registered sales of 143 units of three-wheeler EVs, down from 156 in the same month last year.