In New Delhi, car sales haven’t been going too well. The sale of electric scooters, on the other hand, is on the rise.
The global economy has harmed many businesses, not the least of which is the oil and gas dependent auto market. Instad of buying cars, people are purchasing scooters (both those that run on petrol and those that are electric).
The government is giving some help – several Indian states have waived sales and other taxes on thse electric scooters, which have definitely helped their sales. However, the low maintenance cost and low running cost make them highly desirable even without those tax benefits.
Sales of electric scooters rose 42.25% in the six months ending 31 December, according to a survey conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Electric scooters sold last year are believed to number about, 100,000, or about one-tenth of the total scooters sold. However, that’s just a drop in the bucket – being only about 1% of all two-wheelers, including bikes, sold in the country.
Hero Electric, a division of Hero Cycles Ltd, expects his company to sell as many as 30,000 electric scooters this fiscal year, up from 21,000 last year.
The major electric bike producers in India are Hero Electric, Ultra Motor India Pvt. Ltd and Electrotherm India Ltd. However, they have about 65 smaller competitors, who typically import the scooters or kits that need assembly from China.
Scooters with a top speed of 25km per hour don’t have to be registered by the road transport authorities. This makes them popular with teenagers.
Housewives and senior citizens account for a majority of the sales, dealers say.
March 6th, 2009 at 7:09 am
nice post dude !!!!!!!!
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:50 pm
i wanted to know the history of the scooters
1>WHICH WAS THE FIRST SCOOTER
2>IN WHICH YEAR IT WAS MADE
3>BY WHOM IT WAS MADE.ALL THE HISTORY OF SCOOTERS FROM THE 1st SCOOTER TILL NOW.
IN INDIA