Ola Electric’s Series S e-scooter to be sold directly to buyers, will be home-delivered, confirms Bhavish Aggarwal- Technology News, Firstpost

Amaan AhmedAug 06, 2021 13:43:39 IST

UPDATE: Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal confirmed Tech2’s newsbreak (dated 21 July) in a tweet on 6 August, stating the company has received bookings for its e-scooter from over 1,000 cities in India, and that it will be delivering the scooters directly to buyers from Day 1.

Ola Electric is making waves as it gears up to launch its first electric scooter – rumoured to be named the Series S – in the coming days. The company threw open bookings for the Ola Series S on 15 July (with the reservation amount fixed at a fully refundable Rs 499), and amassed one lakh orders for the e-scooter within 24 hours. Now, Tech2 has learned about Ola Electric’s plans to sell its e-scooter directly to buyers, avoiding going down the traditional dealership network path, and that the Ola Series S electric scooter will be delivered straight to buyers’ homes.

Ola Electric to employ direct-to-consumer sales model

Being a fresh entrant in the scooter business, Ola Electric – which views itself as a tech mobility start-up and not a vehicle manufacturer – has chosen to adopt a different approach compared to established two-wheeler brands. Ola will employ a direct-to-consumer sales model, so the entire purchase process will be between the manufacturer and the buyer, eliminating the need for Ola to set up a conventional dealership network, which would be a resource-intensive exercise. In India, Mercedes-Benz is about to adopt this sales model starting later this year, and Tesla has globally followed the same model as well.

Ola has set up a separate logistics department to facilitate the direct purchase process, essentially letting prospective customers complete documentation, loan applications and other related steps online. This logistics team will see to the scooter being registered and delivered straight to a buyer’s home. While luxury carmakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar Land Rover have been facilitating home delivery of vehicles to customers for a while now, Ola will be the first player to execute a model of this sort at a large scale.

Also read: How to book the Ola Electric e-scooter online

While this approach saves Ola the resources required to set up an expansive retail chain, it also means the company can meet demand in pretty much any location across India. Be it in a metro or in a Tier-III city, those who want to buy an Ola e-scooter will be able to do so, as Ola will make sure the Series S reaches buyers regardless of their location.

The Ola electric scooter is said to have class-leading acceleration and range figures. Image: Ola Electric/Tech2

Additionally, Ola is expected to open ‘experience centres’ – much like Ather Energy’s ‘Ather Space’ outlets – for potential buyers to check the e-scooter out in person and take it out for a test ride.

Ola Electric set to go with remote servicing

In the absence of a full-fledged sales and service network, many people may reasonably have some concerns regarding after-sales support. But considering the company’s approach of selling online, those concerns could easily be addressed by providing remote service support to customers. As is being followed by several automakers these days, instead of having customers schedule an appointment and then drop the scooter off at the service station to pick it up again later, Ola is likely to simply arrange for service staff to visit a customer at their residence and carry out any maintenance work that may be needed. We expect to learn more about this aspect closer to the scooter’s launch.

Ola Electric Series S e-scooter price expected to range from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh

The Ola electric scooter is expected to be available in Ola S1 and range-topping Ola S1 Pro variants. There will be a total of ten colour options to choose from. Ola Electric has also revealed the scooter can be charged using a standard 5A socket, or at one of its ‘Hypercharger’ charging stations, which are going live in over 100 cities at this time and will eventually cover over 400 cities.

Ola Electric will initially cover 100 cities with its ‘Hypercharger’ network. Image: Ola Electric

Range of the top-spec Ola Series S e-scooter is set to be around 150 kilometres. When it is launched in the coming days, the Ola Electric scooter is expected to be priced in the range of Rs 80,000 – Rs 1 lakh.

Also read: Ola Electric scooter set to be eligible for FAME-II subsidy of over Rs 50,000

Ola Electric scooter set to have range of up to 150 km, fixed batteries