Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Pvt Ltd has been enjoying absolute dominance in the country’s scooter segment. That is thanks to Activa, which is India’s best-selling scooter by a long shot. Honda aimed to mimic a similar response in electric scooter segment with Activa e and QC1, but had to face negligible sales.
It almost felt like Honda missed the memo as to what Indian market really wants from an electric scooter. So, Honda is reportedly back on the drawing board and is developing a new electric scooter dedicated for Indian market with more localization to achieve an attractive price tag. Let’s take a closer look.
New Honda Electric Scooter
As per a recent report, Honda is working on a new electric scooter for Indian market which will be heavily localised for an attractive price point. The aim of this upcoming electric scooter from Honda is to overcome all shortcomings seen with Activa e and QC1. Honda will implement the learnings from these products with its upcoming electric scooter.
With Activa e and QC1, Honda entered the highly lucrative Indian electric scooter market. While the company has manufactured a total of 11,168 units of these EVs (4,636 Activa e and 6,532 QC1). To date, Honda has managed to sell 740 units of Activa e and 4,461 units of QC1 in India, averaging 82 and 496 units per month, respectively.
Sales started from February 2025 and tanked completely around October 2025. In November 2025, news broke out that Honda had discontinued Activa e and QC1 electric scooters in India. Both these models were based on international models, but re-engineered for Indian market.
Active e and QC1
Both Activa e and QC1 were expected to be massive sales successes where Activa e would fully utilise Honda’s battery swapping system. However, reality was quite different. Honda’s pricing strategy did not connect with Indian buyers as Activa e was priced at Rs 1.17 lakh and Rs 1.52 lakh (both Ex-sh) and an additional subscription model for the swappable batteries.
Honda locked in buyers with Activa e buyers with this battery swapping subscription model as they could not charge it at home. Activa e had no real storage under its seat and the range was only 102 km. QC1 on the other hand, had a fixed battery with freedom to charge anywhere and a usable boot. But the range was 80 km and top speed was 50 km/h.
The upcoming Honda electric scooter for Indian market is expected to have a combination of factors in the same package. These include a usable boot space, exciting top speed, usable range on a single charge, relevant bells and whistles, freedom to charge anywhere and appropriate pricing. More info may be revealed in the future.
Source
Source: Bike - rushlane.com
