Ahead of the pollution peak in November, there could not have been a better chance to launch the Ola electric scooter in India. While putting the speculation to rest, Ola introduced its electric scooter on August 15, excited people to learn and drive the vehicle. Indians use two-wheelers more for travel than others. Industry data suggests that two-wheeler domestic volumes in India stood at 15,119,387 units during FY21, more than any other country globally.
The electric vehicle arm of ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Ola Electric, revealed its S1 and S1 Pro electric scooter variants, which cost ₹99,999 (excluding the state government’s subsidies) and ₹129,999, respectively. The electric scooters are available in multiple colours; they have a 100km/hr speed limit. It has an 8.5 KW motor and 3.97 kWh battery packs. Various banks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IDFC First Bank, AU Small Finance Bank, Kotak Mahindra Prime, YES Bank, TATA Capital have agreed to finance Ola electric scooters. In addition, the Ola website mentions that the vehicle will be home-delivered.
Orders, Purchase window and more
Bookings opened in July, and the company received a good number of orders. Test rides will start in October. The cancellation option will be available until the vehicle is shipped. One could buy an Ola scooter if they made a reservation earlier during the product debut. The opening of the online purchase window was scheduled at 18:00 hrs on September 8 but was put off until September 15 at 8 am due to some glitches on the Ola website.
While issuing a letter on the micro-blogging site Twitter, Ola Co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal said, “I want to apologise to all of you who had to wait for several hours. The website was just not up to expectations on quality. I know we disappointed you, and I sincerely apologise to each one of you for what was a very frustrating experience.” He added that Ola has simplified the buying process, as the digital loan process is complete without paperwork.
“Getting you the right experience will take us another week. Your reservation and your position in the purchase queue remains unchanged, so if you reserved first, you will still be able to buy it first,” Aggarwal further said. Aggarwal has vowed to have an extensive network of chargers, making it accessible to people in several places. He tweeted, “Every 2W, 4W spends 20 hours of daily life parked somewhere, at home or office! The easiest solution to charging infra is low-cost slow charging outlets in parking, be in independent homes, RWAs/apartments, etc.”
Why will Ola attempt to bring its electric scooters sooner for purchase across the country?
The prominent cab company wouldn’t miss an opportunity to make their vehicle available in the market as soon as possible across the country, as other manufacturers such as Hyundai, Tata, and Maruti seem to be working on their electric cars. They are also decreasing the production of diesel vehicles due to their high maintenance costs for users.
Moreover, its rival could be LML scooters, well-known for their use between the 1980s and 2000s. LML electric claims to have contemplated bringing electric two-wheelers to the Indian market.
