The rainy season also brought a shower of booking on Ola Electric which is already open for bookings on Saturday and already netted as many as 100,000 bookings on the very first day.
Further, it is expected to price its electric scooter in the range of Rs 85,000-Rs 1.1 lakh.
Competitive Price Range
Interestingly, the price range is kept. It almost accounts for 70 percent of conventional, internal combustion engine (ICE) scooter sales.
The head of marketing at Ola Electric, Varun Dubey, said, “We are addressing the entire two-wheeler market in the country, which is around 21 million per annum. We see no reason why customers will not shift to electric”.
Further adding, “the bulk of the ICE scooter market in India is between Rs 85,000 and Rs 1.1 lakh on road , and that is where we will position our range of electric scooters.”
Targeting 50% Off Scooter Market
Ola’s target is to get 50 percent or more of the total two-wheeler market ICE and EVs with this move, Dubey said.
They should be able to grab half of this market, with a projected capacity of 10 million two-wheelers per annum, he says.
Currently, the total two-wheeler market is at 21 million vehicles per annum, out of which scooters account for 6.5 million, while the rest is primarily motorbikes.
Dubey said, “We will also start booking for international market sales soon, as there is a large market in southeast Asia, Europe, amongst others,.”
According to his estimation, the total global two-wheeler market is around 60-65 million vehicles.
What About Charging?
While talking about the challenge of charging the EVs, Ola will roll out 100,000 fast chargers in over 400 cities in the country.
In terms of efficiency, these chargers can charge the battery to 50 percent in 18 minutes.
Apart from that, the service provider company will also provide an overnight charger to its EV buyers for use at home.
Plans To Develop Dealer Network
Initially, Ola plans to address the B2C market and not the B2B market, Dubey said.
So far, the company does not have an extensive dealer network. Ola is delivering the product to the customer’s doorstep for test rides.
In the future, the company plans to slowly build its dealer network.
According to the experts, even if 30 percent of those who booked on the first day continue with their bookings, Ola would have orders for 30,000 electric scooters.
The number is nearly as much as the total EV two-wheeler sales in the country between January and June.
Talking about the rivals, the incumbent two-wheeler manufacturers such Bajaj, TVS, Hero Motocorp are not impressed with Ola’s plans.
One of the top executives at a leading two-wheeler company points out, “We have heard many brazen claims from them. So it’s best to wait and see.”