Ola Electric aims to take on Honda Activa with its low-cost e-scooter

Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric, which entered the electric two-wheeler (E2W) business in 2021, is launching an electric scooter on Saturday (October 22, 2022). The new product is expected to be priced very close to rival Honda’s Activa range of Rs 70,000-80,000, said a senior company official requesting anonymity.

Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India (HMSI), which introduced the Activa brand in 2001, currently sells it in three variants. The base model is available for Rs 73,086- 75,586, Activa 125 for Rs 76,025-88,960 and Activa Premium for Rs 76,587 (all prices ex-showroom, Delhi). At present, it is the biggest-selling scooter in the country and nearly 223,621 units of this model were snapped up in the last calendar year.

At present, Ola Electric offers two electric scooters in India, the Ola S1 and Ola S1 Pro, which are priced at Rs 99,999 and Rs 1,29,000, respectively, and come with a 3kWh battery (141 km range) and 4kWh battery (181km range), respectively.

The new e-scooter will be positioned below these models and will also have a smaller battery with a range of at least 100 km on a single charge, the company official cited earlier said. This person requested anonymity as he is not authorized to talk to the media.

Some media reports also suggest that the Bengaluru-based EV maker will also introduce the Move OS 3.0 software update for its range of products on Saturday.

“The all-new model, which will be offered in a single variant, will have the same design cues of the existing S1 model. However, it will be based on a new platform with a new brand name. In terms of pricing, it will be very close or even less than the Honda Activa. With this model, the company aims to target not just tier 1 cities, but also tier 2 and tier 3 markets,” said the company official cited earlier.

While an emailed query sent to Aggarwal remained unanswered at the time of writing, an Ola Electric spokesperson, when contacted by Moneycontrol, revealed, “We will not be able to comment about the launch and announcements that are planned for October 22.” Honda Motorcycles Scooters India’s spokesperson was not available for comments.

Aggarwal, who is the co-founder and CEO of Ola Electric, recently hinted about his intentions to take on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles with his disruptive products. He tweeted, “Planning something BIG for our launch event this month! Will accelerate the #EndICEAge revolution by at least 2 years.”

Ola Electric stated in a media invite earlier, “This year, on the occasion of ‘Festival of Lights,’ we, at Ola Electric, are looking to light up India’s EV revolution and accelerate it multifold. To that end, we cordially invite you to join our mega virtual event—Ola Diwali 2022, to witness exciting new launches, experience the biggest reveals, and catch sight of our brand-new product.”

Ola Electric’s S1 variant, which it had discontinued earlier this year due to poor demand, was reintroduced with the same price tag on August 15. This helped the company regain the top spot in the E2W segment by logging over 9,800 units in total sales last month (as per data from the government website Vahan), outselling Okinawa, Hero Electric, Ampere, Ather Energy, TVS and Bajaj Auto in the E2W segment). With the launch of a sub-Rs 80,000 e-scooter, the company hopes to retain its current position for the medium term, according to the company official cited earlier.

Ola Electric had earlier received a showcause notice due to a few fire incidents of its existing models.

Ola Electric, which counts Tiger Global and Alpha Wave among its existing backers,has also lined up the launch of an electric car that will give a range of 500 km. The e-car is expected to hit the market by 2024.