TVS iQube tops January 2026 electric scooter sales

Carrying on its strong performance of 2025, when it sold nearly 3 lakh units, electric two-wheeler market leader TVS Motor Company has opened 2026 on a resoundingly strong note.

TVS: 34,440 units

As per the latest Vahan retail sales data, the Hosur-based manufacturer delivered 34,440 units in January 2026, a handsome 43 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase (January 2025: 24,027 units). In the process, TVS accounted for 28 percent of the 1,22,477 electric two-wheelers sold in India last month.

January 2026 is now the company’s best-ever monthly retail score since it entered the market in January 2020. It is also the fourth instance of 30,000-plus retails. The other three months are October 2024 (30,240 units), March 2025 (30,772 units) and November 2025 (30,584 units).

Given the robust customer demand for its e-scooters, TVS is exploring expansion of its e-2W manufacturing capacity. The company currently produces around 30,000 iQubes a month, while Orbiter production is nearing the 10,000-units-a-month mark.

Bajaj: 25,520 units

Usual runner-up Bajaj Auto sold 25,520 Chetak e-scooters last month, up 19 percent YoY (January 2025: 21,470 units). This gives the company a market share of 21 percent. Last month, Bajaj launched the all-new – and very different from its other EVs – Chetak C2501, which is now its most affordable EV. It’s very early days yet for the new Chetak C2501, and it remains to be seen if it helps the company narrow the sales gap with rival TVS. Meanwhile, Bajaj Auto continues to expand its Chetak network, which now stands at 390 exclusive stores and 4,000 points of sale in 800 cities.

Ather: 21,923 units

Ather Energy, like TVS and Bajaj Auto, retained its No. 3 position and continues to witness strong sales. In January, the Bengaluru-based startup sold 21,923 units, up 67 percent YoY (January 2025: 13,097 units), which gives it a market share of 18 percent. The second half of CY2026 will see Ather expand its manufacturing capacity from the current 4.20 lakh units per annum from its two plants – one each for e-2W assembly and battery production. A third plant in Maharashtra, with an annual capacity of a million units, will expand Ather’s total capacity to 1.42 million units.

Vida (Hero): 13,274 units

Hero MotoCorp, with its Vida brand, crossed the 10,000-unit sales milestone for the seventh month in a row. In January, Vida sold 13,274 units, up a humongous 716 percent from the low year-ago base of 1,626 units, thereby earning it an 11 percent market share. The company has recently expanded its VX2 electric scooter portfolio and has also entered the electric motorcycle market with a very different product – the Dirt.E K3 off-roader designed exclusively for budding young riders.

Ola Electric: 7,512 units

Ola Electric's downward spiral continues and it is ranked fifth with 7,512 units sold in January 2026, down 69 percent YoY (January 2025: 24,413 units) for a 6 percent market share. This is a big climbdown from the 24 percent share it had just a year ago in January 2025 when it outsold both TVS and Bajaj. The company, which consistently registered five-figure retails every month, has slipped into four-figure sales since November 2025. A growing number of product and service-related issues continue to plague the company, thereby reducing customer satisfaction and trust leading to dwindling sales.

Greaves: 5,335 units

Greaves Electric Mobility (GEM), the EV arm of Greaves Cotton, which markets the Ampere brand of e-scooters, remains the longstanding No. 6 OEM, as in 2025. However, with 5,335 units sold last month, up 48 percent YoY (January 2025: 3,613 units), GEM is quickly catching up to a flailing Ola Electric. The company recently launched the Magnus G Max, which bolsters its sub-Rs 1 lakh EV portfolio further.

River: 2,574 units

Bengaluru-based River Mobility, which has a single product – the Indie – is now a regular fixture in the top 10 and the No. 7 OEM in January with 2,574 units, up 321 percent on a low year-ago base of 611 units. This is River’s highest number of Indie deliveries yet in a single month, beating the previous best of November 2025 (1,821 units). In other news, River has also commenced production of the Yamaha EC-06 electric scooter, which is based on Indie’s platform but with numerous differences.

BGauss, E-Sprinto and Pur EV

BGauss Auto, a Mumbai-based startup spawned by electrical solutions major RR Kabel, is ranked eighth among the top 10 e-2W OEMs. BGauss delivered 2,475 units of its e-2Ws. E-Sprinto Green Energy has sprinted into the top 10 listing with its best-ever monthly sales of 2,033 units, up 656 percent on a low year-ago base of just 125 units. Pur Energy wraps up the top 10 list with 685 units, down 59 percent YoY (January 2025: 1,651 units).

It must be noted that aside from Ola Electric, no electric two-wheeler OEM retails electric motorcycles, showing just how popular scooters are over motorcycles in this arena of the auto industry.

Over 1 million electric two-wheelers sold in FY2026 so far

The strong retail sales in January (1,22,477 units, up 24 percent YoY) have also ensured that cumulative sales in the first 10 months of FY2026 (April 2025 to January 2026) have crossed one million units. During this period, sales surged 30 percent YoY to 10,96,722, surpassing FY2025’s record 11,50,765 units. If the same momentum is maintained in February and March, India’s electric 2W industry could be looking at a new sales benchmark of over 1.35 million units in FY2026.
 

from Autocar India https://ift.tt/ArD8FCn