Ola Electric recently introduced its first electric scooter in two variants – S1 and S1 Pro – priced at Rs 99,999 and Rs 1.29 lakh respectively. Prices are ex-showroom including FAME II subsidy and excluding state subsidy. Speaking during the launch, Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola Chairman and Group CEO, said that the scooters in India are “boring, dull, slow, clunky and just don’t represent the future.” The electric vehicles are even worse in almost every aspect than their ICE counterparts. Ola has developed a product that has best design along with performance and technology.
He also insists to abolish petrol two-wheelers in India and go fully electric by 2025. When asked about the electric car market, Bhavish said the company will enter into the electric car segment in the next two years. Details of the first Ola electric car will be revealed later. The company is likely to develop an indigenous EV four-wheeler that will underpin a born-electric skateboard platform. If reports are to be believed, it will carry a futuristic design with compact body built and limited range. It’s likely to come at an attractive price point.
The first Ola electric car will be designed at the company’s global design centre in Bengaluru that’s reported to be under development. The company has already approached a few Tata designers for its EV project. Ola’s electric car design facility will have colour, materials and finish lab, clay modeling and other requisite facilities. The company might provide home chargers with their EV cars.
As of now, the company is busy setting up a Hypercharger network across the country. It aims to install nearly 1,00,000 charging points across 400 cities in India. It will be the largest EV charging network across the world. Ola has established a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu with an installation capacity of 10 million electric scooters annually. Initially, it will develop 2 million units per annum.
