Ola is now market leader in electric scooter sales in India, despite accidents

Ola Electric has posted a significant growth in EV sales despite facing multiple issues and complaints. In a recent event, a frustrated Ola S1 Pro owner doused his vehicle in fuel and set it on fire. Problems with Ola’s reverse mode have also been reported. An Ola Electric scooter also caught fire in Pune and the company has recalled 1,441 units of the S1 Pro citing a battery health check-up. Ola Electric had launched the Ola S1 Pro electric scooter in August 2021 and started commercial operations in December.

Ola Electric, Okinawa ahead of Hero Electric

Ola Electric had reported a sharp rise in sales in the month of March 2022 and came a close second after Hero Electric on the sales charts. Now, in April 2022, Ola Electric has gained the top spot on the table after displacing reigning Hero Electric.

According to the Vaahan Portal of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Ola Electric sold 12,683 units last month which shows a 39 percent increase as compared to March 2022. On the other hand, Hero Electric recorded a 50 percent decline in sales as compared to its performance in March 2022 with 6,570 units being sold. Okinawa Autotech came in a close second, with over 10,000 units sold in April 2022. This puts Hero Electric in the third position on the table.

Notably, both Ola Electric and Okinawa electric scooters have been involved in fire accidents and other software/hardware glitches, but Hero Electric has had an unfazed record so far. Ola and Okinawa both recalled some of their scooter units last month after the government’s intervention in electric scooter mishaps.

Hero Electric had witnessed strong growth in the past months; however, its last month’s performance was affected due to parts shortage. As the company admitted on Saturday, it has been facing a shortage of semiconductors – a very essential component in the production of modern-day vehicles. 

Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric, said “It’s like putting an emergency brake on a fast-moving train. Our sales were almost doubling month on month and we somehow managed with sourcing from different geographies but the war collapsed a major supply chain resulting in this disruption.” The top executive also mentioned that Hero Electric is currently looking at alternate suppliers and will soon resume production. In the meantime, the company is focussing on increasing the production capacities as well as strengthening its processes to ensure the quality of the products.