Ola Electric on Sunday launched its much-awaited keyless electric two-wheeler scooter, priced at ₹99,999 (ex-showroom price in Karnataka, including FAME II), considered to be the cheapest among a host of such electric two-wheelers in the country. 

The upgraded pro version of the scooter has been priced at ₹1,29,999 (ex-showroom price   in Karnataka, including FAME II). The deliveries of the scooter will begin from October from the 1000-odd showrooms across cities that will be rolled out during the next few months.  

The vehicle comes equipped with features such as twin headlamps, proximity lock/unlock, which allows the vehicle to sense the owner walking towards/away it and locks/unlocks on its own. The scooter is completely keyless and can be either locked through proximity sensors, touchscreen display or the app.

Other features

Further, Ola scooters also have features such as HMI moods with sounds, vehicle tracking, roadside assistance, built-in speakers, voice assistant, cruise control, and hill hold among others. However, some of these features are limited to Ola S1 Pro only. The scooter also offers customisable vehicle sounds depending on the taste of the driver. A similar custom sound option is also available in Revolt Intellicorp’s electric motorbikes. 

Speaking at the launch, CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said, “We wanted to shatter the boring, non-personalised and non-existent experiences in today’s scooter. To achieve this, we are introducing multiple leapfrog technologies in our scooters.”

One of the key changes that Ola has carried out is replacing the removable boomerang-shaped batteries that were unveiled during the initial phase of the development of the scooter with a fixed battery. Aggarwal said the fixed battery has lowered the cost of production. 

Ola has built a new operating system for its electric scooters, called MoveOS. The 7-inch touchscreen display on the scooters is backed by vehicle computers designed and engineered by Ola in India. The vehicle control unit runs on Octa-core processor, 3GB RAM, and offers connectivity through 4G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

The scooter is powered by a  ‘Hyperdrive motor’, which produces a peak power output of 8.5kW. This is significantly more than the 6kW of peak power some of the competing vehicles have. S1 is said to have a top speed of 90 Km/hr and a range of 121 Km, while the Ola S1 Pro will have a top speed of 115 Km/hr and a range of 181 Km. Ola S1 and Ola S1 Pro can go from 0 to 40km/hr speed in 3.6 sec and 3 sec respectively. Whereas the competing new-age electric scooter company, Ather Energy, as per its website, offers a top speed of 80 Km/hr and has a certified range of 116 km.

Price

Further, Ather 450X and Ather 450 Plus are priced at ₹1,25,490 and ₹1,44,500 (all ex-showroom prices including FAME II, Ather’s portable charger, and performance upgrade) in Bengaluru, respectively.  On the other hand, Hero Electric, as per the website, has priced its electric scooters around ₹60,000 (ex-showroom prices in Karnataka) but the top speed offered by these scooters is 25 km/hr - 45km/hr. Analysts believe that mainstream OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) like Hero, Honda, TVS, Bajaj, and Mahindra with their market knowledge and supply chain network may prove to be a challenge to Ola Electric, as these players already own more than 90 per cent of the market share. 

In terms of charging, Ola S1 can be fully charged at home in 4hr 48 min or attain 50 per cent charging in 18 mins at Ola’s fast charging stations. For Ola S1 Pro, home charging will take 6hr 30 mins and the fast-charging time remains the same. In 18 minutes of fast charging, the Ola scooters will give a range of 75 Km.

Further, Aggarwal announced Mission Electric with the goal that no more petrol two-wheelers will be sold in India after 2025. He added that this occasion is more than just about the environment. At present, India produces 20 million two-wheelers every year. Around 160 million own a two-wheeler in the country. 

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