Trends in India’s three-wheeler market Jan 2022 to June 2022

During the first half of the calendar year 2022 (H1 2022), a total of 2,57,656 units of 3-Wheelers were sold in India including both cargo and passenger models. Out of which, 2,08,845 were passenger vehicles and 48,811 were cargo vehicles. Out of 2,57,676 units, whopping 1,33,137 were electric; 70,117 were CNG and 31426 were diesel.

Observations for passenger three wheeler category – Jan 22 to Jun 22

• For Passenger category 3 Wheelers, the Electric powertrain dominated the sales with 56% (1,17,809 units) up from 51% volume share in H2 2021 (July to Dec 2021) and achieved a positive CMGR (compounded monthly growth rate) of 7.1%.

• Within electric powertrain (56%) for the Passenger category, the Low-spec L3 category, i.e. e-3W, made up the majority of sales with 1,14,046 units sold (54%) while the L5 category sold 3,763 (2%).

• CNG Powertrain comes next with a 28% sales volume share for H1 2022 (identical to H2 2021 volume share) and CMGR of -2.4% showing a negative trend over the period.

• Diesel powertrain obtained a sales volume share of 5.1% for H1 2022, down from 7.3% in H2 2021, as the demand for Diesel 3Ws shows a decreasing trend.

Observations for Cargo three wheeler category – Jan 22 to Jun 22

• A total of 48,811 units of 3 Wheelers were sold for the cargo category during the first six months of 2022.

• For cargo category 3 Wheelers, Diesel powertrain registered the highest sales (42%) in H1 2022 with 20,711 units and a negative CMGR of -0.7% over the period. This marks a considerable decline in the popularity of diesel vehicles in the category, as the volume share of Diesel-run cargo 3Ws was 51% in H2 2021.

• During H1 2022, Electric Powertrain for L3 and L5 category cargo vehicles combined sold a total of 15,329 units, i.e. 31% of all vehicles sold in the category, registering a compounded monthly growth rate of 9.1% over the period. In H2 2021, the electric powertrain share was 23.1%.

• Within the electric powertrain for cargo vehicles, L3 category vehicles sold 10,085 units (20%), while the high-speed L5 category cargo 3 Wheeler sold 5,244 units (11%) during the period.

• CNG-powered cargo 3 Wheelers registered a negative CMGR of -2.4% over the first six months of the calendar year 2022.

3 Wheeler sales for Electric Vehicle OEMs – Jan 22 to July 22

• For the Passenger category, YC Electric which manufactures the Low-speed L3 electric 3 Wheelers, recorded the maximum sales with 11,545 units and held a 10% market share. Mahindra Electric comes second with 8,832 units sold or 8% market share. Mahindra Electric manufactures both L3 and L5 category electric 3 Wheelers.

• For the Cargo Category, Mahindra Electric dominates with 2,002 units sold or 13% market share, followed by Piaggio with 1,429 EVs sold or 9% market share.

• India’s electric 3 Wheeler market is highly fragmented and has around 350 manufacturers for the Passenger category vehicles and more than 200 OEMs for the Cargo category vehicles.

• The top 6 OEMs in the Passenger category contribute only 34% of the total sales, whereas the top 6 OEMs in the cargo category contribute 46% of the sales.

• A total of 1,33,124 electric 3-wheelers were sold in India during the first six months of the calendar year 2022.

• Most of these EV sales were for the L3 passenger category with 86% share, followed by the L3 cargo category with 8% share. For the High-spec L5 category, the passenger and cargo models sold approximately 4% and 3%, respectively.

Source of data: Vahan Dashboard. Data as per 1283 out of 1409 RTOs across 33 out of 37 state/UTs.