Ola sells Rs 1100 crore worth e-scooters in 2 days

18 September 2021

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New Delhi, Sept 18: Ola Electric announced on Friday it has sold over Rs 1,100 crore worth of electric scooters in the two-day purchase window. Co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal termed the sale as an unprecedented event for the company and the auto industry.

“In total over two days, we have done over Rs 1,100 crores in sales. This is unprecedented not just in the automotive industry, but it is one of the highest sales in a day (by value) for a single product in Indian e-commerce history!” he wrote in a blog post.

The EV revolution will also make India transition from predominantly a bike nation to a scooter nation and that will force traditional players to rethink their strategies and invest more in the EV space, industry analysts believe.

On August 15, the company unveiled its Ola S1 electric scooter in two variants — S1 and S1 Pro — at Rs 99,999 and Rs 1,29,999, respectively (ex-showroom including FAME II subsidy and excluding state subsidies). The scooter comes in 10 colours with an in-house developed 8.5 KW motor and 3.97 kWh battery packs.

Ola Electric had opened pre-launch bookings of its electric scooters in July for Rs 499 and had received 1 lakh orders in just 24 hours. However, the company has not disclosed how many orders it has received so far.

As EV’s inherent issues such as range anxiety and charging infrastructure are being addressed, Ola’s marketing prowess could make users believe that its rightly priced e-scooter can be a better alternative to their daily commute as the fuel prices are soaring high with every passing day.

The pent-up demand and the hype Ola managed around a two-day event also helped it attract such large bookings.

While Ola’s success depends on its production capabilities and abilities to keep its promises, the hype it has created and its potential success in leading this revolution will transform the EV industry in India.

First, as Ola and other EV makers position themselves as global producers, it offers a unique opportunity for the country to become the EV manufacturing hub for the world.

The recently announced Rs 26,058 crore PLI scheme for the automobile sector and drone industry is expected to bring in investments of over Rs 42,500 crore in five years and lead to incremental production of over Rs 2.3 lakh crore.

“India has really outdone China in two-wheeler manufacturing, for local markets and global. Indian players have nailed that balance of quality and cost in the two-wheeler space. In the EV two-wheeler market, India has the capability to lead. This is a reset. EVs are heavy on electronics and software, and that’s something we are very good at,” Arun Vinayak, founding partner and former chief product officer, Ather Energy, said.

“90% of the two-wheeler market is going to become scooters very soon. It happened in Europe and in Taiwan. Two-wheelers are increasingly looked at as a vehicle that everyone in the family can share, men and women, old and young. It is also more convenient and has become better in terms of performance. Bikes will reduce to the big segment 300-500 cc, mostly for hobbyists,” Vinayak said.