The E-2W Sales India Doesn’t Track | Why Should it Bother Us?

Electric motor technology company Naxatra Labs reviewed 24 months of Indian customs data under HS 8711.60, from Nov 2023 to Oct 2025, to gauge import volumes of low-speed electric 2W CKDs (Completely Knocked Down kits).

The CKD kits contain the individual disassembled components of the electric scooter that can be factory-assembled in the country of import. The 2Ws assembled from these CKDs (top speed 25 kmph and 250W motors) can operate without RTO registration, a driver’s license, or a helmet. These are the same electric scooters you see used across the country, including tier-1/tier-2/tier-3 cities, villages, personal use, hyperlocal deliveries, and B2B fleet operations. A quick search on some leading low-speed e-2W brand websites shows price tags from INR 36,000 to 65,000. Many on the lower end come with a lead-acid battery.

Because these vehicles are not registered, their official sales data is not available. CKD import data serves as a close indicator of how many of these vehicles are entering Indian roads.

Key findings:

• Over these 2 years [Nov 2023 to Oct 2025], 398 importers imported 8,948 shipments of low-speed e-2W CKD kits.

• 99.8% of the imports were from China. 68% came from suppliers in a single city, Wuxi, Jiangsu.

• Combined CIF value ~USD 400 million. CIF is the total cost of imported goods, including the product cost, marine insurance, and freight charges up to the destination port.

• 22,35,465 low-speed electric 2Ws were imported as CKD kits. In comparison, 25,04,515  high-speed e-2W registrations were recorded during this time.

Growth in low-speed e-2W CKD imports:

• Jan–Oct 2025: 1,456,732 units imported vs 584,947 during Jan-Oct 2024, meaning a 149% YoY growth.

• In comparison, registered e-2W sales grew from 10,09,831 to 11,12,567 between Jan–Oct 2024 and Jan–Oct 2025.

• October 2025 was India’s best-ever month in e-2W registration volume during the year at 1,50,890 units. In this month alone, 2,87,473 CKD units landed. The unregistered channel was 1.9 times the high-speed models.

India’s largest and fastest-growing two-wheeler segment does not appear in a single registration statistic.

Why this should bother us:

1. The value lost: A kit costs $80–110 EXW (ex-works, the value at the supplier location without transport and insurance costs) without battery or tires, which are typically sourced locally to avoid battery logistics compliance and bulk. Every dollar of that imported frame, motor, controller, and charger is a component India could be making, at volumes that already justify the economics. Indian suppliers are missing out on all this volume and the value that can be captured locally.

2. The geography trend is inverted. 71.5% of 2025 imports land with importers in Haryana, Delhi, UP, and Punjab. Importers in Haryana alone imported 527,995 units in ten months from Jan-Oct 2025, while Haryana e-2W registrations were 12,209 during this time. The importers in Haryana can of course be catering to multiple neighboring states – the point is to show the inverted nature of e-2W adoption. Where South India leads in registered e-2W sales, the North is a bigger low-speed market.

3. Average CIF per unit fell from $224 (2023) to $166 (2025). The economics are moving the wrong way for us, making it even harder to reverse the trend or build a viable local supply chain for this category.

4. It is well known across the industry that many of the imported non-RTO vehicles claiming a 25 kmph speed limit can actually operate up to 40-45 kmph, which is a huge safety and regulatory issue.

A growing one-million-plus-a-year market segment with no registration trail, no support, no battery-safety oversight, and no Indian supply chain behind it. It is no longer a grey market. It is the largest EV opportunity that Indian companies are missing out on.

Data Sources:

Import data: Indian customs bill-of-entry records, HS 8711.60, Nov 2023 – Nov 2025.

Registration data: EVreporter Intelligence, Vahan Portal

Also read: EVChargeX Partners with EVI Technologies, IIT Delhi and DRIIV to Build an End-to-End Mobility Ecosystem