The world is evolving at a fast pace, right from climate change to pollution and everything in between — things are moving fast towards a more sustainable and economical future that is built upon the grounds of frugal innovation and so is India’s push towards sustainable use of resources and development.
The EV industry is on the verge of major leaps forward and this is when Ola & Bounce, two of the promising names in the sector are up for a ‘neck-to-neck’ tussle to the top. But who would actually be able to have the upper hand in building the future of automotive? Let’s find out.
Ola Electric — The Founder’s Ambitious Dream Ft. Mark Zuckerberg
No click baits. Bhavish Aggarwal & Mark Zuckerberg may be the two immensely popular CEOs with completely different products in two distant time zones, but they still have a striking similarity i.e., putting in their everything for a vision they have for themselves and the company.
What Mark Zuckerberg is doing with Meta is something that all of us already know, and Bhavish too — seems to be in that zone, where he thinks and believes that Ola’s future lies in the automotive sector and that is what the company wants to be known for, and not just another cab-hailing company.
In fact, when Ola Electric began in 2019 — many perceived it as a side gig for the cab-hailing unicorn, but the recent developments have pivoted Ola Electric as Ola’s flagship product.
From Urban Mobility to Everything Electric: Decoding the Functioning of Ola and the EV Dream
Ola Electric Tweet
Ola, which was among the first movers to launch last-mile mobility solutions in the country, grabbed eyeballs for all the right reasons. A track record where they were able to keep Uber on check to establish a duopoly in the last mile mobility landscape.
Thus, it was no surprise when the company announced its plans to expand into other verticals, but things changed. Out of all the categories, Bhavish and team vesting into the EV sector and that too with an in-house production unit came as a surprise to many.
But then, the reveal and the marketing on top of it successfully created that much-needed buzz in the automotive industry and among EV enthusiasts, who were eagerly waiting to discover what lay ahead.
Ola launched the S1 and the S1 Pro — two of their flagship electric two-wheelers that could cover the maximum distance of 180+ km on a single charge, a debatable claim that felt hard to achieve in real life. They were priced at a premium, significantly more than what their competition was charging for their EVs.
Ola was clear about its stance, and that was to position its offerings on the basis of quality and not price. With an exclusive invite-only system, Ola aimed at gaining enough momentum and buzz before a full-fledged launch.
However, the move didn’t reap enough rewards for the aggregator and it was more of a hit-and-miss. What followed was a pivot in the way the company went about its marketing endeavors. Ola went in with the pre-booking strategy, where users could book the vehicles for a token amount of ₹499, paying ₹20,000 on confirmation and the remaining at the time of delivery.
The small token for pre-booking went well with the customers, as they were a bit overwhelmed with the considerable price tag for the vehicle, despite all the features it comes with.
Reduce the premium price tag, that Ola deemed as ‘affordable’ and the company had cracked the code for a winning product that could redefine the company mission and scale in the times to come.
However, as we already mentioned — the high penetrating price was going to be an issue not because the price was too high — but because of the skeptical nature of the average Indian customer.
The users have expressed concerns about the EV industry overall, with a question mark upon the ability of EV manufacturers to get it right with their money and adhere to the safety norms.
Enters Bounce — A Fresh Twist in the EV Saga
First things first. Bounce was meant to be taken seriously, not because of the product but its sheer habit of solving complex problems differently, simplifying them for the end user.
Bounce started off as a bike sharing and self ‘PuDro’ mobility company Is known for this same appetite to solve mobility once and for all, by giving users the leverage to pick up and drop off their vehicle at the nearest bounce dockyards, at their own convenience.
The team and the idea of ‘Bounce’ were already bagging positive reception and that is when the company announced its focus on EVs and teased its first entry-level vehicle ‘Infinity’ for the daily commuter.
When a company that scaled to 100000 rides per day by just focusing on a couple of cities, announces something — we tend to get curious. Isn’t it? This was no different. Bounce’s announcement of the EV made one thing clear i.e V. Hallekere and the team have something cooking in their heads and the R & D labs.
Give Me the Liberty, and Take My Money — Understanding Bounce’s Strategy and the Indian Consumer
Bounce Battery Swapping Strategy
The founders were aware that they were competing with someone like Ola and Ather who have the luxury of a vast distribution network. Competing with them on the distribution front may not be a good idea and Bounce’s pricing for their entry-level scooter further justified their understanding of the Indian market.
Bounce’s entry-level scooter which is available at a price of ₹36,000 without the battery (apple folks crying in the corner) is about giving the liberty back to the customer, by giving them the option to pick what they want.
Bounce’s swappable battery feature across the network made the cost of owning a two-wheeler EV significantly cheaper, and the Bengaluru-based company surely deserves some brownie points for the move.
“The public transport in India is not like it is across the globe. For instance, there are 6,000 buses for over three million people in Bengaluru, alone. Public transport was thus overcrowded, and the number of people dependent on it was high. The biggest question is how you get these people to move,” Bounce’s Vivekananda H, Co-founder and CEO, tells YourStory.
The Pain — The One Who Solves It Faster, Wins
EV acceptance in India can’t be just dependent upon one or two companies. Rather, it has to be a combination of various factors, permutations, and combinations — and a lot of that has to do with the quality of the product and the price point.
For Ola, the pre-orders became a curse as they have failed to deliver upon orders and promised features, something that they have assured to fix in future updates.
The fire outbreaks in the vehicles, poorly built, and lack of safety — a lot of which is being deemed as the result of rushed manufacturing and cost cutting, can become deal breakers for customers who are looking to switch to a reliable EV.
Ola Fire Incidents
On the other hand, pricing and delivery are some of the major pain points that will determine the potential winner in the long run — as the price, distribution, and infrastructure still continue to be the biggest pain points when consumers look to switch to a new piece of technology.
Where Ola sells the EVs through its own app, Bounce has tied up with the homegrown marketplace, Flipkart to sell its EVs and make them accessible to customers. With the rise in fuel costs, impending recession, layoffs, and escalating inflation — affordability has become the need of the hour for customers.
However, this has also created chaos among the EV and OEM manufacturers as the ‘risk’ involved with the utility of a technology or an EV-like industry, await the tests of time and it is not something that the average Indian customer will be assured about, from day 01.
How companies can actually win it, is via a systematic funnel right from marketing to after-sales support. When customers switch to something new, they aren’t buying the product or the functionality — they are buying the hope and the change that it promises.
The graph shows the sales volume of electric two wheelers for the fiscal year 2016-2021
Conclusion
As they say, never judge the conclusion by the beginning — and rightly so, we feel that it is too early to decide upon a winner in the vastly interesting and highly competitive urban mobility landscape.
Companies like Ather, Bounce & Ola are constantly pushing their limits and redefining the way India perceives EVs, but then it is too early to say anything. When you take that giant leap forward, there are chances that you will stumble here and there, and you may fall too — but that is what startups are all about.
They’re not afraid to fall because they are not afraid to fail and that is what makes all the difference. Ola and Bounce are here to stay, but who’ll stay relevant in the long run? Well, that is the story for another ‘What if’!
FAQs
Who is the CEO of the Bounce?
Vivekananda Hallekere is the CEO of Bounce.
Which is the best EV scooter?
Some of the best EV scooters are Nami Burn-E 2 Max Electric Scooter, Dualtron Thunder Best Premium Electric Scooter, Kaabo Mantis Pro Best Electric Scooter, etc.
Do Bounce electric needs a license?
As per ARAI, any electric bike traveling at more than 25 kmph with motor power exceeding 250W needs a license for its use. And under the same criteria, Bounce electric also requires a license as it can travel much faster than 25 kmph.
Is Bounce an Indian company?
Yes, Bounce is an Indian company based in Bangalore, Karnataka.
Ola is a Bengaluru-based ride-sharing company that only a few people are ignorant of. Ever since Ola cabs became operational in all the major cities throughout India, it has become our go-to option. Along with the US-based Uber, Ola is one of the most dominating ride-sharing companies that offers the users a wide range of vehicles and renting options to choose from!
India’s leading mobility platform, Ola has been operating since 2010, when it was founded and has already streamlined its ride-booking and car renting service and its different modes throughout these years with a focus on its users to add to its growth.
Now, Ola has also chosen to empower sustainable development and therefore, came up with its unique concept of “e-scooters” or what we term as “electric scooters”. With Ankit Jain, Anand Shah, Bhavish Aggarwal, and Ankit Bhati as Co-founders, Ola Electric was founded in 2017 and is set to conquer the world with its unique electric vehicles. However, except for Bhavish Aggarwal, everyone else has stepped down from being Co-founders and has also exited the firm eventually. The Founder and CEO of Ola, is also the CEO of Ola Electric, along with being its Founder.
If you have already heard about them and are curious to learn everything about electric scooters, then you can keep this article handy because here we bring you all that you would like to know about these vehicles, including Ola electric scooter booking, Ola E-vehicle price, Ola Electric scooter price Bangalore, Ola Electric scooter range, Ola Electric scooter specifications, Ola charging scooter, Ola Electric scooter helmet and more.
Why Ola Electric Scooter is much like a “Revolution on two wheels”?
Yes, coming up with Ola electric scooters will certainly help people lose track of the rising costs of fossil fuels and all the morbid thoughts about the exhaustion of our fossil fuel reserves and their likes.
Ola electric is certainly a revolutionary idea and even its tagline says so. The tagline for Ola electric scooter says, “Ready or not, a revolution is coming” along with a motivating hashtag #JoinTheRevolution.
Here are the 3 key features that the Ola Electric scooter boasts of:
Big on Acceleration – The Ola electric scooters would be furnished with acceleration to envy and will allow the users to stay ahead on the road.
High on handling – Along with providing a remarkable acceleration, these bikes are also slick and promise exceptional handling on any surface.
Larger boot space – Ola Electric vehicles also come with a large boot space that is capable of storing two helmets and more important things you would need along the ride.
Ola Electric – Birth of the Entity
Ola has announced that its electricity-powered scooter manufacturing company would be different from its ride-sharing wing. They are two different lines of businesses under ANI Technologies where the former will continue to be a ride-hailing business whereas the latter would be associated with the manufacturing and selling of electric scooters.
Ola Electric Scooters – Built, Colour Variants, Specifications, and Charging
Ola has disclosed that their electric scooters will be made available in 2 versions – the Ola Series S – Ola S1, and the top-of-the-line Ola S1 Pro. The company has already launched S1 and S1 Pro scooters with prices starting from Rs 99,999 and Rs 1,29,999, respectively.
Ola electric acquired Etergo BV back in 2020 and announced that the Ola electric scooter is based on the Etergo Appscooter. The company has already adopted the platform of Etergo to be used in India in order to deliver better performance.
Etergo Appscooter
Looking at the Ola Electric scooter specifications, it is great to announce that the Ola electric scooters paces on 12-inch black alloy wheels. Talking about the design of the vehicles, they are clean and sleek in appearance and devoid of any other redundancies. The Ola e-scooters also feature a twin-pod LED headlamp that has an LED strip running around it.
Ola electric scooter
Furthermore, these also have single-sided telescopic front suspensions and their rear shock absorbers are mounted horizontally, with the disc brakes slotted front and in the rear. The pillion footpegs of the scooter fold flush into the bodywork of the vehicles, and at the back, there are chunky pillion grab handles, ending in clear-lens tail-lights.
These scooters are also claimed to be launched with the largest boot space ever, which are capable of accommodating two half-face helmets and still have space for packing in more.
Ola Electric Scooter boot space
As per the batteries, Ola bikes’ batteries are not swappable types. It will rather run on a standard charging system. The Ola S1 Pro charging time, when charged at home is 6 hours and 30 minutes, while the Ola S1 will be fully charged at home in about 4 hours and 48 minutes.
Ola electric scooter’s riding range for the S1 model is 121 km and for its S1 Pro model, it is around 181 km per charge. The latter also includes the Hyper Mode, which is not present in the former model. However, as per the reports in December 2021, the Ola S1 Pro will have a range of 135 km at full charge, which is the true range of these scooters. The earlier mentioned range by the mobility giant was clarified as the range of the E-scooters only on test conditions.
Ola’s electric scooters are reportedly equipped with a 7.0-inch TFT colour display that will feature in-built navigation, onboard diagnostics, and other infotainment functions, and will be powered by an Android operating system.
Matte black, matte pink, and matte sky blue were some of the colour options that were disclosed by Ola initially. However, currently, the S1 Pro model comes in 10 different colours, which are:
Midnight Blue
Matt Black
Millenial Pink
Liquid Silver
Anthracite Grey
Porcelain White
Neo Mint
Marshmallow
Jet Black
Coral Glam,
On the other hand, the S1 model of Ola Electric scooters comes in 5 colours – Porcelain White, Midnight Blue, Coral Glam, Jet Black, and Marshmallow.
The owners of Ola Electric vehicles will be able to charge their scooters using a standard 5A socket by using the portable 750 W charger that comes with the Ola Electric scooter. Furthermore, you can also charge it at one of its ‘Hypercharger’ charging stations. The company has already announced that it will make the stations live for charging scooters in over 100 cities initially, which will eventually cover over 400 cities.
The first Ola Electric Hypercharger was launched on October 25, 2021, ahead of the planned test drives of the Ola electric vehicles scheduled for November 10, 2021. The S1 test rides of the vehicles have already started, and have received an encouraging response from all across the country, as per the reports of November 20, 2021. Furthermore, after witnessing the overwhelming response that Ola S1 scooters have received, Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Ola, has decided to extend the test rides to over 1000 cities by December 15, 2021.
Amazed and proud to see the strong response to our S1 test rides! Thousands of you have tried & loved it! We’re now expanding test rides to 1000+ cities across India by Dec 15. This is the largest direct to consumer outreach in Indian automotive history! #JoinTheRevolutionpic.twitter.com/ErxXkflQzO
Ola Electric has invested in StoreDot and thereby partnered with the Israel-based company that works on batteries to develop them for drones and electric vehicles and replace the lithium-ion component in the batteries. With this partnership, Ola Electric plans to equip its EVs with extremely fast-charging batteries that will be charged from 0-100% in just 5 minutes. The EV giant also happens to eye towards foraying into the battery-making space in India soon. Here goes the latest tweet from Ola Chief on March 21, 2022, when he spoke on the same:
We’re investing big into future cell tech. Excited to announce a strategic partnership with StoreDot of Israel. Will be working together to soon bring to market and manufacture its pioneering extreme fast charging cell tech, capable of charging 0-100% in 5 mins in India. (1/2)
The electric vehicles of Ola are currently manufactured in its electric scooter factory in Tamil Nadu, which has a capacity of producing 2 million vehicles annually and the numbers will rise to 10 million by the end of 2022.
Yes, Ola Electric is in process of building its factory, OLA FutureFactory in Tamil Nadu, which will cover an area of around 500 acres. Having 100 acres of forest cover, 2 acres of forest inside, and with negative carbon footprint, Ola FutureFactory is hailed as the world’s most sustainable two-wheeler factory.
The Ola factory boasts a production capacity of 10 million units per year and will operate with the help of over 3000+ AI-powered robots that will have precision robot welding, an advanced automotive paint shop, 100% in-house battery manufacturing, and more. The FutureFactory of Ola will assemble 25000+ motors per day, which will make it the world’s most advanced two-wheeler factory.
The Ola FutureFactory that is set up at Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, is believed to be the world’s largest 2-wheeler factory that is planned with the facilities to roll out 1 vehicle every 2 seconds. Phase 1 of the plant is nearly complete. The FutureFactory of Ola celebrated 1 year of its production facility on February 10, 2022.
Exactly a year ago we bought the Futurefactory land and did bhumi pujan. Yesterday we celebrated the foundation day with 2000 women.
Saluting the Girl power at the Futurefactory who showed what it takes to start a revolution. Inspired by their energy and enthusiasm! pic.twitter.com/o9CtkiP4ew
One of the most unique aspects of this FutureFactory is that the Ola factory’s workforce only consists of women, which is the first of such initiatives in the history of Indian automobiles. When it celebrated its 1 year of existence, the Ola FutureFactory had 2000+ women employed, which has a capacity of employing 10,000+ women. This initiative of Ola furthers the possibilities for women leading industries by a step.
Ola might install a solar rooftop to power its factory and cut down on the electricity bills.
What is the price of Ola Electric Scooters?
The website of the Indian multinational ride-sharing company initially declared that the Ola e-scooters would be competitively priced. According to sources close to Ola, these scooters were expected to be priced around Rs 1 lakh mark.
The prices, as unveiled, later on, are tagged at Rs 99,999 and 1,29,999 for S1 and S1 Pro models respectively. At this price segment, these vehicles will compete with the likes of the Bajaj e-Chetak, Ather 450X, and TVS iQube.
Here’s looking at the current prices as per the Ola Electric website:
Ex Showroom Prices in India
Ola S1
Ola S1 Pro
Gujarat
INR 79,999
INR 1,09,999
Delhi
INR 85, 099
INR 1,10,149
Rajasthan
INR 89,968
INR 1,19,138
Maharashtra
INR 94,999
INR 1,24,999
Other Indian States
INR 99,999
INR 1,29,999
Now, as we see, the Ola E vehicle price varies from state to state where Gujarat is apparently having them at the least available ex-showroom prices. Apart from the mentioned states, all other states like Karnataka, West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and more will have their Ola vehicles with starting prices of INR 99,999. Now, if you are looking for Ola electric scooter price in Bangalore, then it would also be starting from INR 99,999.
If you are eager to learn about OLA Electric bike booking and purchase one of such vehicles, then you don’t have to worry anymore because here are some easy steps that will help you with the Ola scooter booking without any hassles. Here’s answering “how to book an OLA scooter online?” with some easy-to-follow steps:
First, you need to visit the official website of Ola electric: www.olaelectric.com and then click/tap on the ‘Reserve for Rs 499’ button, which appears at the top-right corner of your screen.
Now, you need to enter your mobile number, click on the captcha verification box to verify the same, and then click/tap on the Next option.
You will then receive an OTP on your mobile number, which you will need to type in and then click/tap on the Next option.
Then you will get a dialogue box that says ‘Total Payable – Rs 499’ and will offer 3 payment options – Debit/Credit card, UPI, and Netbanking.
After that, you need to choose your preferred payment option, after which you will be redirected to the payment gateway.
After making the payment you will see the final screen, which will confirm your Ola booking by saying “Congrats, you are now part of the revolution.”
As soon as you have completed making the payment, you will receive the order ID and other details via SMS or email to the mobile number and the email address provided.
Ola Electric – Founders and Team
Ola Electric had earlier listed Ankit Jain, Anand Shah, Bhavish Aggarwal, and Ankit Bhati as Founders, but later on, everyone else left the company, making Bhavish Aggarwal, the sole Founder of the company, as of May 12, 2022. Anand Shah was the first founder to leave the company, Ola Electric in 2019. This resignation was followed by Ankit Jain, one of the closest confidantes of Bhavish. Jain left the company in August 2020. Ankit Bhati also left the company in 2020.
Bhavish Aggarwal
Bhavish Aggarwal – Founder and CEO of Ola Electric
Bhavish Aggarwal is the brain behind Ola Electric and Ola, who founded Ola Electric with the other founders. The Co-founder and CEO of Ola and Ola Electric is a B.Tech engineer from IIT Bombay and has been a Research Intern and an Assistant Researcher at Microsoft before he founded Ola.
Ola has already roped in Wayne Burgess, a Jaguar design veteran who also served as the Design Director of Jaguar Production and SVO Vehicles, and plans to make their vehicles big on design, bringing in the global appeal to the vehicles.
Wayne Burgess
Besides, Ola is also planning to launch an indigenously built car in order to foray into the electric four-wheeler industry, which will also get a major boost in its design with Burgess leading their team as the VP of Design. The Ola electric cars are expected to be launched in the next 2-3 years and would be produced in a new Ola 4W factory, which will be a new factory that is yet to be built. The Ola Electric Futurefactory would only stay for 2-wheelers. According to the latest update by Ola chief Bhavish Aggarwal, the Ola electric 4-wheeler would be the sportiest car ever built in India. The 4W factory of Ola would need an additional 1,000 acres of land for its 4-wheeler factory and its proposed gigafactory, which will manufacture cells for both its 2-wheelers and 4-wheeler vehicles.
Funding received by Ola Electric Mobility
Ola Electric Mobility, the subsidiary of Ola responsible for manufacturing Ola Electric scooters, has raised a total funding of $1.5 billion to date over 12 funding rounds and is powered by 21 investors in total. The last Ola Electric funding round was raised on October, 26, 2023 when the company raised $240 million.
The lead investors of Ola Electric Mobility include big names like Softbank, Tata Sons Private Limited, Matrix Partners India, Tiger Global Management, Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors, and more.
Here’s a glimpse into all the prominent funding rounds that OLA Electric has seen so far:
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
October 26, 2023
Debt Financing
$240 million
State Bank of India
September 7, 2023
Venture Round
$140 miilion
Temasek Holdings
May 22, 2023
Private equity Round
$300 million
–
January 24, 2022
Venture Round
$200 mn
Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss, and others
December 8, 2021
Series C
$53 mn
Temasek Holdings
September 30, 2021
Series C
$200 mn
Alpha Wave Global, Softbank
July 12, 2021
Debt Financing
$100 mn
Bank of Baroda
March 12, 2020
Series B
$1 mn
Pawan Munjal Family Trust
September 16, 2019
Corporate Round
–
Kia Motors, Hyundai Motor Company
July 2, 2019
Series B
$250 mn
Softbank
May 6, 2019
Series A
–
Tata Sons
March 1, 2019
Series A
$53.58 mn
Matrix Partners India, Tiger Global Management
Ola ELectric – Growth
Ola Electric, which started taking bookings in July 2021, has already begun achieving some memorable milestones. Some of them can be summed up as:
Ola Electric has clocked sales worth Rs 1100 crore in just 2 days
It was hailed as the best-selling electric 2-wheeler after Hero Electric in March 2022, when it clocked the sale of 9000+ units.
With over 12689 units of Ola Electric scooters sold in April 2022, Ola Electric was recognised as the highest-selling electric two-wheeler company in India.
Ola has sold 41,024 units in 2022, as reported on June 25, 2022.
Ola Electric New Product
Ola Electric is up for a new product launch on the Independence Day of 2022. There are speculations that this new product is an Ola Electric car. It is on the 15th of August 2021 that the EV manufacturers launched the S1-series of electric scooters. So, we need to keep an eye on that for sure!
Here’s what the Ola chief tweeted with regards to the same:
Super excited to announce a new product this 15th August!
The Independence day launch of Ola Electric would be another Ola Electric scooter, at least as per the trailer that Bhavish launched on Twitter on August 7, 2022. The trailer had a scooter just like Ola S1 Pro, carved out as a silhouette, where he mentioned the “greenest scooter just got greener”.
On 15th August, we’ll be revealing the greenest EV we’ve made! Any guesses? 🇮🇳 😉 pic.twitter.com/aMFxToOSTo
Though there are only subtle mentions of the new launch, the Ola product might be an updated version of the S1 Pro model, or it might be an updated colour of the same. Besides, it might also be an affordable version of the Ola scooters. The launch event of the company will be livestreamed by Ola on the Independence Day.
Ola Electric Scooter Sales
After witnessing a noticeable decline in the number of registrations of EV companies MoM, in April and May, the registrations for EVs rose slightly in June 2022, which increased by 6.8% MoM. The situations or growth stories for big companies like Pure EV, Okinawa, and Ola Electric are a little different though. Ola Electric witnessed a 27.3% decline in May, and then again witnessed a 36.5% decline in June, the registration of which counted to 5874 units. This also resulted in Ola losing out its last month’s second position to Hero Electric, whose registration figures, after witnessing a decline over the last 2 months, sprung back again in June, rising by over 128% MoM. Entities like Ather, Ampere, and Revolt, all witnessed a rise in their vehicle registrations in June 2022 unlike Ola, as of July 2, 2022.
Ola, which peaked in its registrations by registering 12,705 units in April 2022, witnessed a prominent downfall, where the Ola Electric sales fell over one-third, to register 3856 units in July 2022.
Manufacturing Batteries
Ola Electric declared that it would be manufacturing batteries for its scooters, which is why it is in talks with numerous global suppliers to build a battery cell manufacturing plant in India. The battery manufacturing plant will have a capacity of up to 50 gigawatts (GwH) hours, as per reports dated June 8, 2022. The manufacturing expenses of such a plant will be around $1 bn. The capacity of the battery manufacturing plant might initially be 1 Gwh, which would eventually be further upgraded. Suppliers from Korea, Japan, Germany, and other countries might serve as the suppliers of Ola Electric. As per calculations, Ola Electric would be needing 40 GWh of battery capacity to successfully power 10 mn. The company has received incentives along with a few other companies, under the Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme, where the Indian government announced the investment of around $2.4 bn worth of funds. This government of India scheme aims to boost the local manufacturing of advanced chemistry cell (ACC) batteries.
The EV manufacturers revealed the first indigenously manufactured Li-ion cell, NMC 2170 on July 13, 2022. This cell is completely manufactured in-house, the mass-production of which is expected to begin in 2023 at its upcoming Gigafactory.
Ola developed the country’s first indigenously developed Li-ion cell, NMC 2170
Ola Electric announced on July 18, 2022, that it will invest $500 mn in its Battery Innovation Centre (BIC), which will be set up in Bengaluru. The BIC will serve as an R&D facility for electric vehicle battery cells. However, the electric vehicle manufacturing company hasn’t disclosed the funding round, and whether it will pour money by itself or depend on external funds.
The MoveOS 3 Firmware Update for Ola S1 and S1 Pro Revealed
The Ola S1 and S1 Pro electric scooters would be receiving the Move OS3 software. It is still being put together, as revealed by the automaker company on July 16, 2022, and would likely be released on October 24, 2022, during Diwali. This new firmware update would equip the scooters with advanced features like Hill hold, proximity unlock, moods, regen v2, hyper charging, calling, key sharing, and more.
Pre-Sale Bookings and Sales Records for the Ola Electric Scooters
Ola opened the option for pre-booking their customers on July 15, 2021. Therefore, everyone who was eager to buy the much-awaited e-scooters, and wanted to stay ahead of their peers could pay a refundable deposit amount of Rs 499.
Ola electric vehicles have witnessed pre-bookings of more than 1 lakh vehicles, as reported on July 17, 2021, the numbers of which increased each second.
The purchase for Ola electric bikes was geared to start from September 8, 2021, and the brand was set to kick start the delivery of the products from October 2021, as of the website status on August 2021. The brand also mentioned then that the purchase of the S1 Pro vehicles will be starting from September 8, 2021, and the Ola scooter delivery will tentatively begin from October 2021 onwards. The booking for Ola S1 and S1 Pro had already started back then and you can also find it live on their website as well as the Ola app even today.
However, Ola S1 scooters couldn’t be bought on the mentioned date due to technical glitches in the developer’s end of the website that failed to make it up and running. The website that would be a one-stop solution for digital purchases, which would also guide the customers with a fully digital loan process without any paperwork, wasn’t live on September 8, 2021. Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal apologized on Twitter for the frustrating experience the customers had to go through and postponed the purchase date to September 15, 8 am. He further reassured that the reservation of the customers in the purchase queue will remain unchanged.
The purchase of the Ola e-scooters went live on the mentioned date, September 15, 2021, at the end of which it was declared by Bhavish Aggarwal that Ola Electric sold 4 scooters/second, which resulted in the sale of scooters worth Rs 600 crores+ in a single day. The total sale of Day 2 was even better as goes the Twitter post of the Co-founder of Ola Cabs, Bhavish Aggarwal:
Day 2 of EV era was even better than Day 1! Crossed ₹1100Cr in sales in 2 days! Purchase window will reopen on Nov 1 so reserve now if you haven’t already.
Ola is also looking to transport their electric scooters to the US by early 2022 as part of its international trade. The CEO of the company, Bhavish Aggarwal has mentioned,
“Yes soon! We will be shipping to the US by early next year,”
in a reply to Vivek Wadhwa, a US-based entrepreneur on Twitter, who earlier referred to the Ola Electric scooters as “the Tesla of Scooters,” further adding, “would love to get one here in Silicon Valley.“
Ola, however, had to postpone the deliveries of the e-vehicles from the month of October to November 2021 due to a global semiconductor shortage. However, the delay has further extended, as per the reports dated November 22, 2021, where the company has decided to defer the first batch of deliveries of its e-scooters to December 15 – 30, 2021, which was earlier expected to happen between October 25 – November 25, 2021.
Ola Electric – IPO
In order to be ready for its Initial Public Offering (IPO), Ola Electric has changed its status to that of a publicly traded corporation. Ola Electric Mobility Private Limited was the company’s previous name and now Ola Electric Mobility Limited before it underwent a corporate restructure in order to reach this noteworthy milestone.
Ola Electric – Partnership
Reliance General Insurance, a private general insurance business, announced a partnership with OLA Electric to offer an Extended Warranty Product in September, 2023.
Ola Electric – Acquisitions
Ola Electric has acquired 1 company to date that goes by the name Etergo.
Name of the Company Acquired
Date of Acquisition
Deal Value
Etergo
May 27, 2020
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Ola Electric – Investments
Ola Electric has invested in StoreDot, a Tel Aviv-based battery innovating and developing startup that aims to replace the lithium-ion component on the batteries.
Name of the Company
Date of Investment
Funding Round
Lead Investor
StoreDot
March 21, 2022
Corporate Round
Yes
Ola Electric – Challenges
Aiming to transform the types of vehicles and the fuel that fuels them is itself a huge challenge that Ola has embraced with its e-scooters. Ola Electric has also faced many other challenges in its path of making EVs popular, and one of the major challenges is the fire incidents that the vehicle manufacturing company has seen in March 2022. Here are some of the prominent challenges faced by the EV giant so far:
Ola Electric Production Suspended in Tamil Nadu Futurefactory
Ola Electric has paused its production at Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri plant, as of July 30, 2022, for nearly a week. It has piled up 4000+ units at the same factory. Though an ET news previously reported that the company has decided to shut down the factory, an OLA Electric spokesperson refuted the reports, and stated that like all factories need annual maintenance, the Ola Futurefactory did too!
Ola’s Change of Payment Model Reduces Sales
Ola Electric initially used to set multiple payment windows for the customers, which opened on 4 specific dates and helped them pay in 4 instalments. However, on May 28, 2022, the Electric vehicle manufacturer changed that payment model to a one-time full payment model, where the customers will have to pay for their vehicles in full on a single occasion. This change has been impacting Ola Electric sales ever since. In the past 2 weeks, Ola has sold only 130-200 units, as per news dated June 25, 2022. Though this model is allowing the company to offer INR 10,000 discounts to its employees, the total vehicle sales were down by 27.3% MoM in May to 9230 units. The total vehicle sale of Ola stood at 41,024 units on June 25, 2022, so far in 2022.
Fire Incident in Pune
An Ola Electric vehicle set itself on fire in Pune in March 2022. This caused widespread fear and anxiety among all and has also led the company to recall 1441 bikes in order to diagnose them and check their overall health including their batteries, thermal, and safety systems.
Guwahati Accident
Amid the fire incident woes, Ola Electric has faced another criticism involving the son of Balwant Singh, a Twitter user, who alleged that he bought an Ola S1 Pro for his son, which met with an accident on March 26, 2022. This accident, he alleged, was due to a fault in the regenerative braking system. However, Ola Electric, in response to this, posted the telemetry data to prove that there were no issues with their scooter and that the accident was purely due to overspeeding and panic-braking. It also revealed the telemetry data in the form of an official statement on its Twitter handle.
As soon as Ola Electric posted the detailed telemetry report along with relevant graphs, proving that the son of Balwant Singh was overspeeding, and met with an accident, Ola Electric started facing huge backlashes for tracking customer data and publicising the same without the consent of the customers. This led Balwant Singh immediately mail Ola Electric and its authority to take down the personal telemetry data of Balwant’s son that was shared. Any further action taken by Ola was not known, but the fact whether the telemetry data can be considered as a customer’s own private data is debatable truly.
Balwant Singh’s son’s case was shot into the spotlight once again on May 12, 2022, when, as per the reports, Ola Electric responded to Singh, asking him to delete the negative reviews on social media within 24 hours or else, he would be facing legal action. The company’s response was backed by its earlier claim that it hasn’t breached data privacy.
Ola Electric Resignations
Ola witnessed another top-profile resignation on May 8, 2022. After Arun Sirdeshmukh, the CEO of Ola Cars, Dinesh Radhakrishnan is the next person to follow. Radhakrishnan was the CTO of Ola Electric who handled critical engineering functions of the company.
Ola Electric – Marketing, Brand Ambassadors and More
Ola Electric has already been a grand pre-booking success and is innovating its marketing strategies to attract the present generation of customers. The company is targeting all the available forms of media including traditional media, print media, and online media to empower the Ola scooter marketing strategy. The company has already roped in Bhuvan Bam, singer, songwriter, actor, and one of the most popular YouTubers of India, famous for his Youtube “BB ki Vines,” as its brand ambassador to hook in the young generation of buyers.
Bhuvan Bam was hired on August 27, 2021, on a contractual basis, the agreement of which declares that the popular Youtube personality would collaborate with the electric scooter manufacturers to create entertaining and eccentric content revolving around the new-age Ola Electric scooters.
Bhuvan Bam seemed thrilled to be an Ola Electric brand ambassador and said,
“I am really happy that Ola Electric considered me as one of their ambassadors. It’s truly exciting to be a part of this green revolution, something I’ve always wished for. The scooters are sleek, attractive, and are designed as per the Indian electric vehicle market. I have joined the green revolution already and I can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on it.”
Ola Electric – Future Plans
Ola Electric has plans to launch its electric car in 2024. Ola Electric is currently looking to establish its battery manufacturing plant in India that will have a capacity of 50-gigawatt hours. Furthermore, along with that, the electric two-wheeler manufacturing company will also be investing in advanced cell and battery manufacturing.
FAQs
How much does Ola electric scooter cost?
The Ola electric scooter has 2 models –
Ola S1 is priced at Rs 99,999.
Ola S1 Pro is priced at Rs 1,29,999.
The Ola e-vehicle prices, as mentioned above, are for all other states excluding Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, where people will find the Ola Electric bikes even cheaper.
What is the Ola S1 Pro boot space?
Talking about the Ola S1 Pro boot space, it is safe to conclude that Ola promises to bring you the largest boot space currently available in the market, which will have the capacity of accommodating two half-face helmets, with space for packing in more.
How is the Ola Electric bike booking process?
The Ola Electric scooter booking in India or the Ola Electric bike booking is an easy process where the users would just have to go to the Ola Electric official website and book them online.
What is the range of Ola electric scooter?
The ranges of Ola Electric scooters on a single charge are-
Ola S1 – 121 km
Ola S1 Pro – 181 km
Though Ola has advertised that the Ola Electric scooters would have a range of around 181 km, the true range of Ola bikes is 135 km, as disclosed later on.
What is the top speed of Ola Electric scooter?
The top speed of Ola Electric S1 is 90km/hr whereas for the S1 Pro model the top speed is 115 km/hr.
What are the Ola S1 Pro and S1 charging times?
The Ola s1 pro charging time is around 6 hours 30 minutes, while the S1 variant of the Ola e-scooter will be fully charged in around 4 hours and 48 minutes when charged at home.
How to charge OLA electric scooters?
The Ola Electric scooters can be charged using a 750 W charger that comes with the Ola Electric scooter that needs to be plugged into a standard 5A socket. Besides, the users can also charge their scooters at the nearest Hypercharging stations.
Who is the Ola brand ambassador?
The Ola brand ambassador is none other than the founder of “BB ki vines” Bhuvan Bam.
Mansi Maheshwari
