The launch of Ola Electric has set abuzz India’s e-scooter segment with a competitive price war as the cab aggregator takes on players like Ather, Okinawa, Pure EV and other traditional two-wheeler companies including Hero Electric and TVS Motor.
The Ola S1, which has a top speed of 90 Kmph, is priced at Rs 99,999 and comes in five colours. Meanwhile, the Ola S1 Pro, with a top speed of 115 Kmph, is priced at Rs 1,29,999 and comes in 10 colours. The competitors have priced their scooters between Rs 70,000 and Rs 1.13 lakh. Traditional (non-electric) two-wheelers cost around Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000.
In India’s EV market, which is regarded as one with potential globally, Ola is banking upon affordability and pricing to break the market.
The e-scooter market in India was dominated by a few players and the entry of Ola Electric has disrupted it with the new launches and their pricing. But experts told The Economic Times that e-scooter makers are likely to stay on their prices despite the added competition.
Market players are not convinced of Ola’s strategy. Jeetender Sharma, MD of Okinawa, said that EV companies compete not just on price but technology and performance. “The benchmark is Honda Activa and it should be easy to transform it into an e-scooter. Consumers are preferring e-vehicles due to lower operating costs,” he is quoted as saying in the report.
Naveen Munjal, MD of Hero Electric, said that the EV industry is only 1 per cent of the segment and artificially reducing prices will not help growth and will lead to “cash burn”.
E-scooter manufacturers have been able to bring down their prices with help from state subsidies. Experts believe subsidies will pace up adoption of electric vehicles to reach the target of 30 per cent market share of the two-wheeler segment from the current 1 per cent.
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