TVS Motor Looks to Bolster Its Position in Electric Scooters With Orbiter, Supply Chain Challenge Continues

Bike and three-wheeler major TVS Motor looks at a section of urbanites to help boost its electric scooter growth story, because that’s the customer segment its latest electric vehicle (EV) Orbiter is targeted at. Launched today, with a starting price of ₹99,999, the Orbiter will be gradually offered nationwide, with Bengaluru as its first market.

Gaurav Gupta, President - India 2W Business, TVS Motor expects the Orbiter “to expand to multiple terrains across the market segment”, and he is “very bullish about it”. No sales projections were shared, but TVS Motor expects the new model to boost its EV industry performance, where it holds a segment share of around 25 percent.  

The industry-wide supply chain constraint, due to the rare earth magnet crisis, also affects the Orbiter’s national ride. “Given that there are some constraints as we build up volume in the overall space, and we talked about the EV constraints right now, we don't want to disappoint customers, but we are working in a phased manner for the rollout, and we will be announcing it in a few days and weeks from now,” says Gupta.

The Orbiter is also a result of customer and data insights that TVS Motor has garnered during its EV journey over the past six years or so. The 14-inch wheels, and a 158 KM riding range in the Orbiter is one example, according to Manu Saxena, EVP - Global Product Planning and Design, TVS Motor. “The journey for us in the last six years has been quite extensive and we are very exhilarated to see the kind of responses we have received on our products so far,” he says.

TVS Motor has sold over 600,000 units of its maiden electric scooter iQube, which cumulatively have clocked close to 3 billion kilometres.

Even as the electric scooter segment growth is a “bit muted in recent times” mainly due to the supply chain constraint, TVS Motor is bullish about the industry’s prospects in the coming times. According to the company, the segment has seen a YoY growth of around 20% in the April-July period, resulting in the EV penetration level reaching about 6.6% in the domestic scooter market.

Tackling supply chain challenges remains a major priority, as the EV industry is not out of the woods yet. As of now, it's almost day-to-day or week to week basis management to support the production line. “So, overall, it definitely has impacted players across the industry, and everyone is trying to work on alternative solutions to see how we can minimise the actual versus the plan,” says Gupta.