Homegrown electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ola Electric is likely to expand its portfolio with the launch of an electric autorickshaw named Raahi. According to the media reports, this new vehicle is part of Ola’s broader strategy to enter the commercial vehicle business and will compete with established models like Mahindra Treo, Piaggio Ape e-city and Bajaj RE.
The company has been developing Raahi for several years and plans to unveil it later this month, revealed Economic Times in a report. It further added that the electric autorickshaw market is growing rapidly, with over 5.8 lakh units sold last year, a 66% increase from 2022. Electric three-wheelers now account for more than half of all three-wheeler sales.
Ola Electric is also preparing for its initial public offering (IPO), having filed a draft red herring prospectus in December. The company aims to raise around ₹5,500 crore through a fresh issue, in addition to an offer for the sale of 95.2 million shares by existing investors.
In the run-up to the IPO, Ola Electric has been strengthening its position in the electric vehicle market. In February, the company extended the battery warranty for all its scooter variants to eight years and announced plans to set up 10,000 fast-charging points by the end of the next quarter. It also intends to sell portable fast chargers to customers and expand its service centre network from 400 to 600 by April.
The company is working on opening its gigafactory, where it will manufacture its battery cells, by the end of this quarter. It plans to allocate ₹1,226 crore from the projected IPO proceeds for the gigafactory.
In an interview with CNBC-TV18 last year, Aggarwal outlined a sequence for this vision: first scooters, then motorbikes and finally cars, with the development of the cell platform running in parallel.
He noted that in early adopter cities like Bengaluru and Pune, EV scooter penetration is already more than 50%. However, Aggarwal also hinted that the launch of Ola’s electric car might be delayed until early 2025 or so.
As of February, Ola Electric held a 41% market share in the electric scooter segment, selling 33,722 units. Its competitors, TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto and Ather Energy, held market shares of 17.7%, 14.2% and 11%, respectively.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, Ola Electric reported revenue from operations of ₹2,631 crore and a net loss of ₹1,472 crore. For the quarter ended June 30, 2023, the firm posted a net loss of ₹267 crore on operating revenue of ₹1,243 crore. FY23 marked its first full year of sales.
(Edited by : Vivek Dubey)
