Ola Electric has expanded its Ola S1 portfolio and also launched its anticipated and much more affordable Ola S1 Air. All this put it against legacy manufacturers such as TVS and Bajaj. The other top sellers are Ampere and Okinawa to name a few.
2023 S1 variant gets a new 2kWh battery pack variant with an existing 3kW variant making it more affordable with the same features as the S1 Pro for INR 99,999. The purchase window for the new variant opens immediately, while the deliveries will begin in March 2023. The new S1 variant will also be available in all 11 colour palettes – Gerua, Matt Black, Coral Glam, Millennial Pink, Porcelain White, Midnight Blue, Jet Black, Marshmellow, Anthracite Grey, Liquid Silver, and Neo Mint.
The Ola S1 Air too has been announced in 3 new variants, powered by 2KWh, 3KWh and 4KWh battery packs respectively. Ola S1 Air received a tremendous response during the initial reservation window when it was first unveiled during Diwali 2022. Ola has re-engineered the powertrain and battery packs for the new variants of S1 Air while retaining the design. Instead of the 2.5 kWh battery showcased earlier, the Ola S1 Air will now come in 3 variants seen in the chart above. The customers who had earlier reserved the 2.5 kWh variant of S1 Air during the Diwali reservation window, will be upgraded to the 3Kwh variant for no additional cost.
The S1 Air comes in a distinctive 2 tone body colour scheme, available in Coral Glam, Neo Mint, Porcelain White, Jet Black and Liquid Silver. With the same screen and OTA updates the Ola S1 Air starts at INR 84,999 for the entry-level variant (2Kwh), INR 99,999 for the mid-variant (3 kWh) and INR 109,999 for the top variant (4 Kwh). However, the screen resolution drops to 800×480 instead of 1280×768. Reservations for Ola S1 Air are now open for INR 999, and the purchase window, test rides and deliveries will commence from July 2023.
With the introduction of the S1 Air and new S1 variants, Ola will have more reach in the market with the flat floorboard and other inexpensive materials used around to keep costs in check. With the 3 battery pack options, the S1 Air brings a lot to the table and for every customer while enjoying more practicality at the expense of lower performance and range numbers for a lot less. The chart above clearly says that an S1 Air top-end variant is Rs 20,000 more than the S1 Pro. This is not far away as expected, but the base variant starts at Rs 38,000 lower which will help Ola target fleet operations and small businesses that are using e-scooters a lot but are sceptical of the quality and reliability of the brand itself. Meanwhile the S1 and Pro offer the best performance indeed.
Ola plans to launch an electric motorcycle which could be much higher than any other on the market right now, Ultraviolette aside. We think Ola will launch these five variants one by one in all body forms such as Supersport, cafe racer, neo-sport, adventure and naked. Priced around Rs. 2.5 and 3 Lakhs, this will target the 250/300cc ICe motorcycle category.
Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, of Ola, said, “The uptick in EVs has been quick once world-class alternatives to ICE vehicles were made available for the Indian customers. With the dominance of Ola S1 and Ola S1 Pro in the premium scooter segment, India is already one of the biggest EV markets in the world. The expansion of the successful S1 portfolio and the S1 Air in 3 new variants, and across multiple price points will encourage more customers to permanently switch to EVs. If 2022 was the beginning of the end for the ICE Age, 2023 will alter the course of the 2W industry in India.”
The success of the S1 Pro and S1 has cemented Ola’s market leadership. Carrying forward the momentum into 2023 as well, Ola surpassed the 25000 units sales mark yet again in January while also clocking its best month-ever monthly performance.
Ola has been on an expansion spree with 200 experience centres already across the country from where customers can explore Ola’s technology, get deliveries and also get their vehicles serviced. With 80% of all customers already within 20 kms of an Ola Experience Centre, A bold number also comes now that Ola plans to further double down its D2C outreach and open 500 experience centres by March 2023. We are yet to see the scooter and how it compromises in some areas to bring the price down and how much more practical it is. Stay tuned for more on the same.
