Sona BLW traction motors and controllers to drive next growth phase

Sona BLW Forgings expects Sona BLW traction motors and controllers to emerge as its fastest-growing business over the next five years, even as electric vehicle adoption continues to vary across segments. The company sees growth accelerating as new programs move into production and the value contribution per vehicle rises with higher-power applications.
Sona BLW traction motors and controllers gain from rising EV programs
“The three-wheeler opportunity is big, and it is actually one of the fastest-growing, and hopefully, in the next couple of quarters, you will see the growth being even more solid,” Managing Director and Group CEO Vivek Vikram Singh said during an analyst call held to discuss the company’s October–December results.
“As the power and voltage go up, the value goes up non-linearly; actually, it goes up much faster, because of which I would say for the next five years, I would expect traction motors and controllers to be our highest-growth segment,” he said.
Singh noted that traction motor growth is being driven more by new program launches than by a sharp shift in overall EV penetration. “EV penetration as a percentage of two-wheelers may not have changed meaningfully, but our new programs have started kicking in,” he said, adding that the company is also expanding its share of wallet with existing customers.
As of December 2025, Sona BLW’s order book stood at Rs 23,500 crore, marginally lower than Rs 23,600 crore in September 2025, with electric vehicle programmes accounting for 71% of the total. The company added Rs 500 crore in fresh orders during the quarter, underlining steady momentum in electric vehicle components.
During Q3 FY26, Sona BLW secured two new orders:

• one from an existing customer for a new variant of an electric scooter

• another from a new customer for a hydraulic motor controller developed in the same quarter

Around one-third of the company’s battery-electric vehicle orders now come from European customers.
The number of EV programs increased to 64 across 33 customers at the end of Q3 FY26, compared with 62 programs across 32 customers at the end of Q2. Of these,

• 33 programs are already in production

• 31 are yet to begin production

pointing to a strong pipeline for future ramp-ups in traction motors and controllers.
Sona BLW also reported a sharp rise in customer enquiries, with request-for-quotation inflows nearly tripling year-on-year. The company attributed this surge to financial stress among European auto suppliers and the resulting shift of supply chains away from distressed players.
Expansion into higher segments and four-wheelers
The company is working on traction motors and controllers for four-wheelers and higher segments and expects to share a meaningful update in six to seven months. “The four-wheeler bit is something that we are working on, and hopefully we can say something about it in the times to come. But yeah, it's closer than one would expect,” Singh said.
According to him, the four-wheeler segment significantly expands the addressable market for Sona BLW traction motors and controllers, extending beyond pure battery-electric vehicles. “Even if you take a small number of vehicles, and I know that for some reason we say that BEV is the only one that has a traction motor, but all plug-in hybrids also have traction motors,” Singh said. “If you add that total volume and multiply that by the value of the motor and controller, the addressable market is humongous.”
The company clarified that it remains in the product development phase for four-wheelers and higher segments and has not yet secured a purchase order. “We are working on all segments, be it four-wheelers and above. Hopefully, in six to seven months, we will have a meaningful update for you,” Singh said.
Sona BLW has followed a phased entry strategy in electric mobility, starting with two-wheelers, expanding into three-wheelers, and now preparing for four-wheelers, which it views as a more competitive and demanding segment. “We aimed to enter the segment last when we were certain of the capability of our product and the advantages we bring to the customer, and only then would it make sense,” Singh said.
Over recent years, the company has strengthened its presence in EV traction motors across two- and three-wheelers and now plans to move further up the value curve as electrification widens across vehicle categories.
Sona BLW’s battery-electric vehicle revenue share improved to 33% in the first nine months of FY26, up from 30% in the first half, even though BEV revenue declined 14% year-on-year to Rs 795.4 crore due to a weak first quarter. “BEV revenue share improved meaningfully to 38% in Q3 from 32% in Q2 FY26 and represents our second-best quarter till date in terms of absolute BEV revenue and share,” Singh said.