Ola Electric to launch new mass-market e-scooter today

Ola Electric has reworked its product and pricing strategies and October 22, 2022 is the day when its new e-scooter launch will take place around 2.00pm.

What we know so far:

- Model name: Ola Air
- Range on single charge: 100km (IDC)
- Hub motor output: 4.5kw
- Performance: 0-40kph: 4.3sec
- Battery capacity: 2.5kwh
- Display: 7-inch touchscreen
- Prices: From Rs 79,999

Ola Air introduction comes at the Diwali festivity period. OLA founder and CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal will launch it virtually and is part of the business strategy to regain the No. 1 position that it held in the first quarter of FY2023.

From market movement perspective, the Rs 65,000 to Rs 80,000 slot is emerging as a fast-growing segment where majority of transitioning is happening from ICE to EVs. Ola is eying this space very aggressively as an entry-level scooter with a range of around 100 km and a smaller battery pack.

The other variant Ola S1, equipped with a 3kWh battery pack, has a claimed range of 141km and the top-spec S1 Pro offers 181km on a single charge courtesy of its larger 3.97 kWh battery pack.

"With this launch, we will further consolidate our September numbers and a parallel network and service expansion. Our two-day turnaround target for all customer issues comprehensively will see a strong resurgence for all our product variants," informed a source in the know of the launch details.

The Bengaluru-based electric two-wheeler maker had opened FY2023 with 12,703 units in April 2022 and 9,255 units in May with sales hitting a speed bump in June-July-August. In April, Ola Electric had to recall 1,441 units of its electric two-wheelers amid several fire incidents in their e-scooters. These incidents weren't received well by the markets and resulted in a drop in sales over safety issues. On June 30, Ola's registration numbers dropped by more than 30 percent.

Ola Electric made a smart recovery last month to occupy the  No. 2 position with 9,649 units sold, up by 6,209 units over the 3,440 units sold in August 2022. Its cumulative retails in the first six months of FY2023 are 44,801 units, 7,435 units behind market leader Okinawa Autotech (52,236 units).

Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal recently tweeted that the new launch will "accelerate the #EndICEAge revolution by at least two years on 22.10.22 at 2 pm."

The EV maker has managed to reduce its pricing basis a smaller battery pack for the new mass market scooter, that will deliver a range of 100km and take on popular ICE models such as the Honda Activa 6G and the TVS Jupiter. The new model is expected to retain most of the features of its mid-priced cousin Ola S1. A teaser video shared by the company has shown the upcoming model to have analog dials and RGB lights in the headlamp.

The two-wheeler maker is also expected to live up to its promise made in August 2021 when it launched the Ola S1 Pro to give its Ola user the Move OS 3.0 upgrade. This upgrade will get features like hill-hold, proximity unlock, ride moods, regenerative braking V2, hyper charging, voice assist, calling, and key sharing.

Ola Electric which has 20 experience centres pan India plans to add over 200 experience centres across India by March 2023.

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