Ola Electric unveils new electric two-wheeler Ola S1, set to launch electric cars by 2024

Electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric has launched Ola S1, its second electric two-wheeler, and is set to launch electric cars by 2024. 

The company has also set a target to produce one million electric cars, 10 million two-wheelers and 100 Gigawatt per hour (Gwh) of battery cells every year, said Ola Electric’s founder and Chief Executive Bhavish Aggarwal during the virtual launch event on August 15.

“Last year we made a humble penetration into the EV ecosystem with our Ola S1 Pro, due to this, EV Penetration in India has gone up to 5 percent this year from 1 percent last year…today we want to take EV revolution to the next level and democratise EV scooter ownership in India,” Aggarwal added. 

Ola S1 has an introductory price of Rs 99,999, which is valid for limited scooters. The company has opened reservations starting from August 15 with a charge of Rs 499. Purchase opens on September 2.

Aggarwal said that within seven months of the launch of its first EV scooter S1 Pro, it sold around 70,000 units and expects a similar sale of its new EV scooter. 

Ola Electric had sold 3,426 vehicles in July 2022, down 42 percent month-on-month on the back of chip shortage and spill-over. The firm sold 5,874 two-wheelers in June, data from the industry body Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) showed on August 5. 

“Global EV revolution is so far led by the West and China and we need to change that…focus on India will be based on a very different product roadmap,” Aggarwal added. 

Similar to Ola S1 Pro, the new EV is built on the operating system, MoveOS  and has a battery capacity of 3 Kilowatt per hour (Kwh) with a top speed of 90 kilometers per hour (Kmph). 

“We will be launching the upgrade of Move OS which is MoveOS 3 this Diwali, which will have key features like moods, digital key sharing, proximity unlocking, documents on the scooter and more,” Aggarwal said. 

Aggarwal also said that the new EV will support all future software upgrades like Move OS3 and beyond.

Ola Electric to launch Electric Cars by 2024 Aggarwal added. 

“Indian carmakers are very conservative thinking that India wants only small or midsize cars…We need a car that defines new India so we are building one of the fastest cars in India,” he said. 

Ola's Electric Car is set to have the similar Move OS software and will be keyless and will also be handleless. 

Ola Electric is also launching around 100 hypercharge units across India starting November 2022, to aid its new two-wheeler and four-wheeler launches. 

During the virtual launch the company also unveiled its research and development centre, Ola Battery Innovation Centre (BIC).  Ola Electric on July 18 announced the investment of $500 million for setting up this centre. 

“We have produced our very first Lithium Ion cell and will soon be producing it in our giga factory. We have doing a lot of development testing around this and by end of 2023 we will have them in our products,” Aggarwal said.