Homegrown electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Ola Electric Mobility has revealed that its e-scooter portfolio will be complete by August 15, 2023. Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Bengaluru-based electric two-wheeler maker, said the company plans to add three to five new products to its e-scooter portfolio in the next two quarters.
Aggarwal, speaking exclusively to CNBC-TV18, said, “I am saying this on record that by the end of 2025, we can make all two-wheelers in India electric.. It is a little aggressive. But that's what we are striving for. And to make that happen, we need to build the right products for India at the right cost structures and to bring the supply chains to India.”
“My strong belief is the scooter market will be all electric in the next two years. Am I taking a big risk? I am talking about scooters, not motorbikes. I am very confident because I see the data. In many early adopter cities like Bangalore or Pune, EV scooter penetration is more than 50 percent. Everybody wants an electric scooter. I can stick by my forecast here, and it’s not going to be easy. The supply side will be the challenge, and not the demand side. So that was step one for me in this grand vision of ending the ICE age in the scooter segment,” he added.
Ola motorbikes and cars next?
Ola Electric’s grand vision is to build scooters, motorbikes, cars and the fundamental cell platform in India and transform the country into a global EV hub eventually. As per Agrawal, the sequence is a scooter, motorbike and then a car, and in parallel to all of this is a cell.
During the company's annual event on August 15, last year, Aggarwal announced his plans for a new indigenously developed lithium-ion battery and shared Ola's vision for making India a global EV hub along with new details of its upcoming electric car.
“In the scooter segment, step one, #EndICEAge should be a two-year phenomenon. The next step is motorbikes. We are already midway through our motorbike engineering and product development. You will see announcements later this year,” revealed Aggarwal. He also hinted at delaying Ola’s electric car by early 2025 or so.
"I am very confident because I see the data. In many early adopter cities like Bengaluru or Pune, EV scooter penetration is more than 50 percent. Everybody wants an electric scooter. I can stick by my forecast here, and
it’s not going to be easy. The supply side will be the challenge, and not the demand side. So that was step one for me in this grand vision of ending the ICE age in the scooter segment”
Here’s the complete launch timeline of Ola Electric so far:
Ola Electric Mobility, established in 2017 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ANI Technologies, the parent entity of Ola Cabs, has its manufacturing plant in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, India. The company was started to reduce the emission and fuel dependency of Ola's cabs and shift to mass electric mobility.
In April 2018, it announced that it aims to have 1 million electric vehicles in its cab service by 2022. Aggarwal bought a 92.5 percent stake in Ola Electric from ANI Technologies in 2019, and spun-off Ola Electric as a separate entity. However, ANI Technologies continued to hold a 7.5 percent stake in Ola Electric for using the "Ola" brand name.
In May 2020, Ola Electric acquired Amsterdam-based e-scooter manufacturer Etergo and announced to launch its line of e-scooters in India by 2021. In December 2020, the company announced setting up the world's largest two-wheeler factory, called the Future Factory, in Tamil Nadu.
Ola Future Factory
The factory is spread over a 500-acre, fully-automated complex located in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. The company claimed it will be the largest two-wheeler factory in the world with an annual production capacity of 10 million units.
The factory produced its first electric two-wheeler on 15 August 2021. By January 2022, it was manufacturing nearly a thousand electric scooters daily.
Ola electric scooters
Ola Electric received 500,000 bookings for scooters in the first month of availability. Ola Electric started delivering its S1 and S1 Pro models in December 2021 with the deliveries of 100 scooters in Bengaluru and Chennai.
In late March 2022, Ola made a strategic multi-million-dollar investment in Israel-based battery technologies company StoreDot to incorporate and manufacture its XFC (extreme fast charging) battery technologies for future vehicles in India.
In August 2022, Ola Electric teased its first sedan electric car, under development. Aggarwal also announced its upcoming battery innovation centre (BIC) in Bangalore, which will be Asia's largest Cell R&D facility.
On its first car, Aggarwal said, "This is still early but we are very serious about it. By early 2025 or so, we’ll bring our car."
Ola S1
Launched on May 2020, the e-scooter has a driving range of 121 km on one charge and can attain a top speed of 90kmph. It takes up to 6 hours to recharge.
Ola S1 Pro
Launched on August 2022, the e-scooter came with a top speed of 116 kmph and an ARAI-certified range of 181 kilometres on a full charge. It also takes up to 6 hours to charge.
Ola S1 Air
Launched in February this year, the S1 Air is the company’s most affordable electric scooter. The new Ola S1 Air gets claimed driving range of 85 km and can accelerate from 0 to 40 km in 4.3 seconds. It comes with a battery of 2.5Kwh and a 7-inch touchscreen.
Ola S1 Air has 3 new variants and is priced starting at Rs 84,999 for the entry-level variant, Rs 99,999 for the mid-variant and Rs 109,999 for the top variant. The company stated that it will discontinue the 2.5kWh battery variant.
(Edited by : Vivek Dubey)
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