Supply-side disruptions and higher commodity prices are taking a toll on India’s EV industry and despite a rising demand, the shortage of materials and higher input costs are affecting profitability.

Electric scooter maker Ather Energy‘s CEO and co-founder Tarun Mehta said that the path to profitability will take a little longer than earlier anticipated.

“I was hoping to break even later this year itself. I would add a few quarters to that now,” its Chief Executive and co-founder Tarun Mehta told Reuters.

Electric vehicle makers are in a dilemma as they are grappling with a spurt in demand for greener mobility and a supply-side crunch due to geopolitical reasons.

Manufacturers are forced to pass some of the burden to consumers amid the global supply crisis.

The company’s production volumes have also been curtailed by a chip shortage and challenges in procuring lithium-ion cells for batteries, made worse by COVID-19 lockdowns in China and logistics disruptions, he added.

Backed by private equity fund Tiger Global and India’s biggest bikemaker Hero MotoCorp, Ather sold over 3,200 electric scooters in June. It lags rivals Ola Electric, backed by Japan’s Softbank Group and Hero Electric.

The company, which launched the third generation of its 450X e-scooter on Tuesday, plans to ramp up production to 10,000 units a month by the end of the year and will fully utilise its annual output capacity of 400,000 units by end-2023, Mehta said.

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The appointments come as Ather Energy looks to transform its fast-growing manufacturing and supply chain as part of its industrial strategy.

On the UI/UX front, the 450X Gen 3 features an upgraded dashboard with a re-architected Ather stack and an upgraded 2 GB RAM. This will unlock several features for the future like voice commands, multi-language support, heavier graphics, deeper diagnostics, the EV maker said.