With the new EMPS (Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme) in effect from April 1 all leading electric two-wheeler makers in India have resorted to price hikes
Electric scooter makers in India have announced price hikes across their offerings with effect from 1st April 2024. This segment sees elevated sales each month despite the fact that it entails higher acquisition costs. It is the saving on fuel and lower maintenance costs that forms a major attraction to buyers in this segment.
Why the price hike?
Electric scooter price hike is in view of a new Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) that has been introduced by the Government of India, as the FAME II scheme ended on 31st March 2024. This EMPS scheme is directed towards incentivising EV adoption so that it does not adversely impact sales in any way.
Unlike FAME II, subsidies under this new EMP scheme the subsidy is capped at Rs 10,000 per electric scooter which is significantly lower than what was offered under the FAME II scheme. Electric two wheeler makers Ather, Bajaj, TVS and Vida have announced price hikes while Ola Electric, a leading electric two wheeler OEM is holding current prices of its e-scooters till 15th April 2024.
New Prices – Ather, Bajaj Chetak, TVS iQube, Hero Vida
Ather Energy, TVS, Bajaj Auto and Vida (Hero MotoCorp’s electric arm) have announced price hikes by Rs 3,000 to Rs 16,000 depending on model. The highest price revision is seen for the Ather 450S. It was earlier priced at Rs 1.10 lakh but now revised to Rs 1.26 lakh, an increase of Rs 16,000. This is the highest price hike across the electric two wheeler segment.
On the other hand, Ather 450X (2.9 kWh) gets a price hike of Rs 3,000 from an earlier Rs 1.38 lakh to Rs 1.41 lakh. The 450X (3.7kWh) sees prices revised by Rs 10,000 from Rs 1.45 lakh to Rs 1.55 lakh. Ather has also just introduced the new Rizta electric scooter. It is presented in three variants with the Rizta S priced at Rs 1.09 lakh, Rizta Z (2.9 kWh) at Rs 1.12 lakh and Rizta (3.7 kWh) at Rs 1.44 lakh. All prices ex-showroom.
Bajaj, TVS, Vida Price Hike
Bajaj Auto has the Chetak e-scooter as its only offering in the electric segment. This e-scooter sees a price hike of Rs 8,000 on its Urban variant which now goes up to Rs 1.23 lakh from an earlier Rs 1.15 lakh. The more exclusive Premium variant of Bajaj Chetak carries a Rs 12,000 price hike to new pricing of Rs 1.47 lakh. TVS iQube and iQube S see prices hiked by Rs 3,000 and Rs 6,000 respectively. The new prices now stand at Rs 1.37 lakh and Rs 1.46 lakh.
Hero Vida V1 Pro which was initially priced at Rs 1.46 lakhs is now higher by Rs 4,000 to Rs 1.50 lakhs while the V1 Plus is higher by Rs 5,000 to a new pricing of Rs 1.20 lakh. Ola Electric, the leading electric two wheeler maker in India, that plans to go public in the coming months, has decided not to increase its prices till April 15, 2024.
