[kadanaJ]

Other features include

- Navigation
- in-built speaker
- cruise control
- Live location tracking
- battery health
- Voice command
- Call alerts
- LED headlamps
- Largest boot space

Since the Ola has voice command, does that mean at a signal, I can roll down my car window and shout "Hey Ola, turn off the scooter", just as the light turns green.

Good hack for any Ather 450x owner who doesn't want the Ola Pro beating him in a traffic-signal acceleration race.

[shortbread]

Originally Posted by RaghuVis

Now the point to ponder is whether they are going to be just successful or very successful or create a revolution as what Mr Agarwal boasts. With annual sales target of 2 million, they need to sell 1.66L ola scooters per month. Currently electric scooter sales are 0.006% of that.

I wish Ola becomes a revolution but looking at the current market, I am not sure how that is going to happen.

Sorry to say, but that is a terrible glass half empty analysis.

Current electric scooter sales provide very little info. Let me paint the ground reality.

There are 3 Indian EV scooters with respectable reputation. Before I come to that lets deal with the rest.

The Likes of Okinawa, Hero electric etc are locally assembled chinese kit scooters. The build quality, after sales service, performance etc... etc... are all questionable. On top of this they cost more than mainstream scooters from major manufacturers. Yet, they still sell in the thousands and are increasing market share. Imagine two wheeler buyers spending north of Rs.80k on a brand they have never heard of before. They have no choice, these fly by night operators are raking in the moolah.

So what about the 3 mainstream models, the TVS Qube, Bajaj Chetak and Ather?

Well TVS and Bajaj only sell in 2-3 cities and have a massive waiting list. Whatever they can make is not enough to meet the enormous demand. So in a nation with about 4000 cities/towns they sell in less than half a dozen cities. Bajaj seeing the demand hiked prices by almost 25%

Ather has slightly better presence although limited to urban centres and is prohibitively expensive. 20-30% more than a comparable OLA.

It is too early to judge how the scooter performs. I for one think there is a massive underserved market that OLA can target?

[sidoza]

The design is beautiful. Colors are perfect. The product is very well positioned. I think Ola has got a winner on its hands.

A lot of people are not happy with some of the features. I say they are missing the point. This product is perfectly priced, is a step up from the driving experience on offer today (silent, fast pickup, feature-rich, among others), and brings a new level of convenience (at home service, charge anywhere, etc.).

Yes, some of us do need a map in the city, not for the main roads or popular destinations, but to find the nearest shop that fixes pressure cookers, for example. You need Hill Assist and Reverse mode. And the battery cant be removable if the product experience and quality are a priority.

Whenever I heard about the long waiting times to book an Activa, or its constant price increases, I always used to wonder when they will get disrupted. Thankfully, there are several players in the market doing exactly that.

With the government behind the electric revolution, and the people ready to lap up new offerings, this is a brilliant product launch by Ola.

A fellow BHPian said this will impact the Motorcycles market as well. I fully agree. I would like to add that this scooter may have an impact on the second small car in some of the households.

I am also happy that Ola Electric didn't go for the electric car market first, tempting as it is. They got the strategy right, and the launch, now its the execution (manufacturing, quality, distribution) that will decide the success for them.

My best wishes to Ola Electric!

[am1m]

Originally Posted by sidoza

Yes, some of us do need a map in the city, not for the main roads or popular destinations

I find online navigation useful in the city pretty often. I don't know every part of my city even though I've lived here all my life. And I usually have to go to different parts I'm not familiar with.

If Ola is planning to target the food/Amazon/Flipkart delivery logistics space, then dashboard map navigation is pretty much going to be an essential feature. Imagine if all those delivery guys/fleets switch to ebikes, already seeing some of them using smaller ebikes.

[adityadeva]

Originally Posted by Ultim8

Implementing those "fancy" features in a touchscreen console is not expensive. While considering the humongous manufacturing volumes, implementing the computing unit & those additional features will be as cheap as an entry level smartphone, or even lower. .

Even though I am not even considering buying one right now irrespective of financial status, I am impressed with their offering, which tries to target wide range of customers.

I completely agree. And for the nay sayers who want a simple old fashioned Speedo with a battery 🔋 indicator, there are other brands available at a cheaper price.

Ola is not just attempting to make an ev with barebones utility, they are making a statement and a product with some aspirations which would cost almost nothing to them even when all these features are incorporated. Probably because they are aiming at high numbers.

Now, the question is whether the sales would pick up, charging infrastructure would meet the demand. Removable battery indeed is a big factor for people living in rented appartments.

In my opinion, Ola should hard market for charging infrastructure (15amp should do) at office/malls/ kirana shops/ appartment complexes- parkings - paid ofcourse. If this goes parallel to existing efforts, the customer confidence is going to increase in the product.

Last but not the least, all EV manufacturers should collaborate to share their charging infrastructure.

[enginesoul]

I see many comments regarding the past low sales number of EVs in India and how Ola's ambition of selling millions of EVs is not possible. As an active person who is looking to get into EV business let me say this.

During my research and analyzing the market by taking inputs from local customers in tier-3 cities far from Bangalore, I got huge surprises. It's more than safe to say that customers are really worried about reputation of these new EV(mostly Chinese rip offs). They are also worried about long term reliability as it's a huge investment for them.

One more major concern they had was charging infra in and around city limits. But all of them unanimously accept the fact that they cannot continue using ICE, though not for saving environment but for financial reasons, and also many of them asked for specific details about electric scooters which made me realize they are not as far behind as OEMs want us to believe.

So, if any major OEMs like Honda, Hero, Bajaj or TVS sell electric scooters with affordable price and optimum charging infra, the sales number of EVs are going to change dramatically and this is where I think Ola has hit the nail on its head by already having more than 100K charging points. Though people in these parts know about Ola but it takes time for OlaElectric to make inroads but I am very hopeful.

[rascalangel]

*On board Telemetrics with Navigation*
People need navigation in scooty? Its not like they will take these cuties to inter state travels or to obscure locations. Do common people not know their way in their own city? Even if one shifts to a new city, within a month they get to know about directions of major centers. Or what about asking for routes from locals? You don't even have to move your head unlike in a car.

I disagree. Many times i use navigation on phone to guide me to a particular shop or apartment that i dont know the location of on a street i may know.

*Reverse function*
In a scooty? I will be damned. Is it satire?

*Hill hold*
What happened to good old legs and brakes?

My mother and wife disagree.

*Cruise Control*
I don't know any major city in India where it can be used.

I disagree. Not all of India is cities. my 90% daily commute of 80km is highways where i can maintain a cruise speed of 50.

*Voice controls*
Even a person with best in class loud voice can not use it. With so much noise around, can it be used?

Agree. Gimmicky. Not a fan of Alexa/Ok Google.

*In-built speaker*
Yeah, now I understand all the money the ola owners have earned, they have used it to roam in alps, nile basin or andes mountains, where they have listened to the quite. Do they want us to listen to songs because this is mental bankruptcy at its best? Do they want us to listen to navigation because it wouldn't work under helmet and in traffic noise.

I and the pedestrian disagree. Like a fellow BHPian said useful to warn the people jaywalking on roads. (I wonder if it can play high frequency sound to shoo stray dogs away from the middle of roads?)

*Ability to attend phone calls*
So that everyone can hear it except the rider because they are wearing helmet?

I will not use it to attend calls while riding but useful to know whose calling so that i dont have to stop, reach in my pocket just to cancel the call from pesky tellecallers.

[RijuC]

1. How to avail the discounted price in Delhi? Do they check the Aadhaar card address though online or accept whatever is written on a hard copy of aadhaar card?
2. Whether Ola will deliver doorstep or they can deliver to a different area/ address as shipping address? Or can we pick it up from any physical store or location?
3. Is the discounted price applicable for Gurgaon location?

[Mishrap]

If I am in market for a 2 wheeler, I would go for a well maintained 2nd hand activa @35K-40K. It would still be cheaper in long-run. 1.5L for a scooter seems pricey. Also, after 2-3 years what is the cost to replace battery, that is still a mystery. Read in the article it takes 18 mins to charge 50%. Everytime we put for charge, we have to go parking area after 30-40 mins to turn the charging off. Initial days it looks cool, but later on it becomes a pain. Is it recommended to put it on charge full night unnecessarily? Please pardon me for my ignorance, but I would give it a skip for next 2-3 years until infrastructure is more robust in India with more charging stations and more clarity on the long term maintenance, servicing.
Thanks for reading.

[rascalangel]

Originally Posted by sri_tesla

Detailed specifications including dimensions, charging times, features, etc... The interesting thing to note is features like Cruise control, Hill hold, Voice assistant are available only in S1 Pro. The remaining all other smart features are available in both variants.

Attachment 2193651


Attachment 2193653

So the body is not monocoque then? That means the hump is for the sake of batteries only?

And what the hell is a "forced update"?

[Sebring]

Good joke. Had me in splits But, on a serious note, I'd expect voice commands on new gen cars to be replicated here for simple things like navigation guidance, sending out texts etc. (Cars don't switch on/off ignition on command - yet)

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

Since the Ola has voice command, does that mean at a signal, I can roll down my car window and shout "Hey Ola, turn off the scooter", just as the light turns green. Good hack for any Ather 450x owner who doesn't want the Ola Pro beating him in a traffic-signal acceleration race.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

Since the Ola has voice command, does that mean at a signal, I can roll down my car window and shout "Hey Ola, turn off the scooter", just as the light turns green.

How can that happen? If there is voice command, there will be voice recognition too I think.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Axe77

I don’t understand why everyone is cribbing about too many features.

If Ola delivers what it is promising, it would actually be offering a product that offers more than all the existing competition at a price that is lower than them as well.

Looks: check.
Performance: check.
Range: check.
Price: check!

Take out a couple of features and people are constantly cribbing about lack of this and lack of that. Here is a well priced, high performance, feature packed offering and people are still complaining.

TBHP : OMG no TPMS a complete deal breaker!!

Also TBHP : OMG so many features, is this a smartphone? Give me something simple. A complete deal breaker!!

[callmeneo]

I feel all the brickbats Ola's receiving for putting all those features in a 2W is a bit harsh.
I am sure if they had not given these features, a group of people would have compared Ola to XXX brand and said XXX provides A,B,C features which are not there in Ola and this is a dead on arrival product. Also do not think Ola/Etergo would have put those features if they were of no use to the public. Of course all the features wont be useful all the time but I am sure they would be at some point of time and the user will thank Ola for giving it.

The next best bet on a startup would be based on reusing/disposing all these batteries considering the number of electric vehicles running around.

Also if Ola is to launch a car in 2-3 yrs, the best bet would be to tie up or take over a company that has already started their work on a E-Car similar to what they did with Etergo.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by Arjun Bharadwaj

Now these vehicles are being built literally "around" the battery!

It's just the mindset!! Growing up seeing vehicles built around gasoline & adapting a vehicle built around battery, that's all

If you had watched or get a chance to watch the movie i-Robot, Dr. Calvin in the movie gets scared when Will Smith rides MV Agusta, which sounded little absurd for me when I had watched that movie. Today, I can understand the apprehension, may be tomorrow I might even appreciate...who knows.