Ola's founder Bhavish Aggarwal is on a mission to be electric and is hoping that by 2025, all two-wheelers in India should be electric. He said that Ola is committed to lead the electric mobility revolution in the country and Ola has exuded the capability to build in India for the world. During a media interaction before the unveiling of the Ola S1 scooter that comes in two variants—Ola S1 and S1 Pro—Aggarwal remarked that the scooters were fully designed and developed in India.
“Companies should invest in India. We have developed all the core components of the scooter in India,” he said.
Aggarwal informed that Ola is building the world's largest two-wheeler factory and it will also be the biggest building in the country. The factory, when completed, will be spread across 500 acres of area and will have an annual production capacity of 10 million units, which is equivalent to 15 per cent of the world's entire two-wheeler production capacity. Currently, the first phase of the factory is being completed and it will soon be churning out 1 million units, which will be scaled up to reach 2 million vehicles once the first phase is completed. Ola has also set up a large ancillary park at Hosur in Tamil Nadu to meet the production requirements.
“Though we will also be focusing on the Chinese market, it will not be an immediate priority for us and our main focus will be on the Indian market. India has a decent electric vehicle ecosystem and we are procuring most of the things locally though cell components come from Korea. We will be having a hybrid kind of sales that includes online as well as physical experience centres. Currently, we have not spent even a single rupee on the marketing and it is mostly through Twitter and social media,” explained Aggarwal.
The company on Sunday unveiled the Ola S1, the first in its range of electric two-wheelers. The scooter Ola S1 is completely designed and engineered in India and is available in two variants, S1 and S1 Pro, in ten colours with satin, matte and glossy finishes. It has one colour, iconic twin headlamps, ergonomic and fluidic body, superior alloy wheels, sculpted seating and has a spacious boot space that can fit two helmets inside. The Ola S1 Pro scooter can run up to 181 kilometres with full charge and has an acceleration of 0-40kmph in three seconds. It also has a top speed of 115kmph.
The Ola S1 has a hyperdrive motor that is designed and developed in-house and has a 8.5 kilowatt motor that has good thermal efficiency and peak power and torque. The 3.97 kilowatt battery packs help it run up to 181 km in a single charge. Ola has also developed its proprietary battery management system (BMS) that can monitor the battery for durability, performance, range and safety.
In addition, Ola has designed a vehicle control unit with an octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and high-speed connectivity through 4G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It is powered by a multi-microphone array and AI speech recognition algorithms that have been built in-house, and also has a 7-inch touchscreen display.
Besides that, it has a proximity unlock that can enable an advanced key-less experience as smart onboard sensors can communicate with the driver's phone that lets the driver unlock the scooter when he is in range and automatically locks it as he leaves. The scooters also come with voice recognition that enables one to complete the key tasks quickly without worrying about navigating the menu.
The scooter is also powered by a proprietary operating system MoveOS. The Ola Moods feature can change the ride experience including the look and feel of the display and how the scooter sounds. The Ola S1 also offers a customised vehicle sound experience played out through integrated speakers. Additionally, there are safety and security features that include an anti-theft alert system and geo-fencing. The front and rear disc brakes keep the rider safe in city stop and go traffic, while the ‘Hill Hold’ feature makes navigating inclines easy.
The Ola S1 price starts at Rs 99,999 and does not include state government incentives, registration and insurance. The Ola S1 pro is available for Rs 129,999. The purchase of the scooter starts from September 8 and the deliveries are expected to start across 1,000 cities and towns from October. Till then the Ola S1 is available for reservation for Rs 499.
