India’s EV Motorcycle Startup Is Already Selling More Bikes Than Harley-Davidson's LiveWire

Turns out people will buy electric motorcycles. Just maybe not the ones we expected.

Photo by: Ultraviolette

By: Enrico Punsalang

Aug 17, at 8:22am ET

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Electric motorcycles are booming. Well, sort of. The category has spent years supposedly sitting on the verge of its big breakthrough, only for sales numbers to remain stubbornly tiny in markets like the US. LiveWire, arguably the biggest name in America's electric motorcycle scene, sold 267 motorcycles globally during the second quarter of 2026.

Meanwhile, a certain Indian startup you may or may not be familiar with just registered 694 bikes at home in a single month. Things are getting interesting.

That company is Ultraviolette, and July 2026 was its biggest month yet. Ultraviolette registered 694 motorcycles during July, representing a whopping 406% increase year-over-year. The company had reportedly moved around 3,200 bikes through the first seven months of 2026, already making this its strongest year since it began selling motorcycles in 2023.

Photo by: Ultraviolette

For some deeply unfair but irresistible perspective, Ultraviolette's July number is about 2.6 times the 267 motorcycles LiveWire sold worldwide during April, May, and June combined. It's also nearly twice the 358 motorcycles LiveWire sold globally during the entire first half of 2026. LiveWire's Q2 sales actually increased 386% year over year, so it's growing rapidly too. It's just growing from a considerably smaller number.

Of course, we need to accept the fact that there are some giant asterisks here. Ultraviolette's 694-bike figure represents Indian retail registrations, while LiveWire reports worldwide unit sales. India is also the world's largest two-wheeler market, so comparing it directly with the US motorcycle industry isn't exactly scientific. But I'm making this comparison for two reasons. The first is to highlight the sheer scale of the Indian motorcycle industry. And the second is to paint a solid picture of just how rapidly Ultraviolette is expanding.

Plus, Ultraviolette's bikes are cheaper. But they're by no means bargain-basement electric commuters. Ultraviolette has deliberately positioned itself toward the premium and performance end of India's EV market.

That strategy seems to be working better now that Ultraviolette has expanded its lineup and made its motorcycles easier to buy. Its Battery Flex program separates the battery cost from the motorcycle, dropping the X-47's upfront price by a hefty margin. Ultraviolette says this reduces the initial purchase price by nearly 40%. So yeah, turns out making expensive motorcycles less expensive is a surprisingly effective sales strategy. Who knew?

Ultraviolette also isn't treating India as its entire playground. The company has been aggressively expanding overseas, and co-founder and CEO Narayan Subramaniam says it's now retailing across 19 European countries. The F77 already has European certification, while Ultraviolette has previously discussed future expansion into markets including Southeast Asia, Latin America, and, crucially for this conversation, the US.

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That last one could make things spicy. LiveWire currently claims an enormous 76% share of America's 50-plus-kilowatt on-road electric motorcycle segment. In other words, LiveWire isn't getting crushed by rivals in the US. It's dominating its particular corner of the market. The problem is that this corner remains tiny enough that an Indian startup can register more than twice LiveWire's quarterly global volume in one month, in one country.

And maybe that's the more important takeaway here. Riders might not inherently hate electric motorcycles. Perhaps they just need compelling bikes, attainable financing, enough choice, and an ecosystem that makes owning one sensible. Ultraviolette certainly hasn't cracked the global EV motorcycle problem with 694 registrations, but it's demonstrating that premium electric bikes can find buyers at meaningful scale.