Automotive
Will Ola cause the next big disruption in the electric 2-wheeler market?
30 Aug 2021
As Ola Electric prepares to deliver its electric scooters from October, will it trigger the next big disruption in the Indian electric two-wheeler market by the hype and expectations created? Well, industry analysts are cautiously optimistic about the company’s ability to emerge as a gamer changer, at least in the initial phase.
While it unveiled its electric scooter Ola S1 on August 15 with a price (.?99,999) matching petrol-powered bikes and scooters, it had already garnered more than one lakh pre-bookings.
Ola Electric appears to have achieved initial success with exciting specs in its scooter. But product acceptability remains to be seen. “Going by the specifications and features, the product could be disruptive as it appears to be matching the aspirations of younger groups and the higher-end segments. But there is no clarity on the battery quality and costing details. If one is required to change the battery after three years, it will cost a bomb -- ?60,000 to ?70,000 - going by the specs in S1 variants. We still don’t get a sense why they didn't go for the swapping option as well,” says Himani Jain, Senior Programme Lead, CEEW (Council on Energy, Environment and Water).
The company is now working on the mammoth task of fulfilling the customer orders from October. Bhavish Aggarwal, Chairman and Group CEO of Ola, announced that it would deliver its S1 scooters across 1,000+ cities from where it received pre-bookings.