In 2023, Ola Electric ruled the electric scooter market by gaining over 30% of the EV 2-wheeler market cap, and it always stayed at the top of the monthly EV sales list. But the major question is, will Ola Electric continue making the same stride in the EV market in 2024? Or is it just the beginning of a big fall?
Ola Electric continues to register financial losses, and there is other negative news regarding the company. Additionally, the upcoming electric scooters may become another challenge for Ola Electric’s rapid growth; amid all of this, will Ola Electric be able to glide through all these issues?
In this article, we’ll elaborate on the Ola electric’s current situation and try to identify whether Ola will be able to sustain its rapid growth.
How Ola won the EV market:
One of the major reasons behind Ola’s rapid growth is its “Product Market fit”. Ola Electric managed to identify the most crucial demand of the Indian customers and the price that they could pay for it. With Ola’s growth, we can learn that an Indian customer’s first priority is a lower price/range ratio, and advanced features can act as an addon and such things can attract an Indian customer at a large scale.
After identifying the god-level “Product Market Fit,” Ola Electric went on a streak of rapid expansion. The company invested heavily in mass-producing the scooter and opening a new showroom in every city in our county. This rapid expansion enhanced the visibility of Ola Electric everywhere, and with this strategy, Ola Electric overshadowed its competitors and became the sole face of electric scooters in India, creating a brand value that even legacy automakers couldn’t.
A New launch every 4-6 months. Ola Electric keeps updating its scooters and operating systems with rapid launches, which helps them stay relevant on social media and gives customers a sense of being served after the purchase.
With all these strategies, Ola Electric was able to capture such immense brand value and market capitalization.
The On-Ground Reality of Ola Electric:
The sales of S1 Pro, S1 Air, & S1 X are rising, but are they performing well in the market? That’s the important question, and the answer is yes (with a big scope for improvement).
Ola is selling lakhs of electric scooters in India, so it has become obvious that some customers might face issues with the product. Due to a handful of such cases, the company receives a lot of negative feedback. Although, as a company, it’s their responsibility to rectify all such issues, as electric vehicles are new, even a small black spot attracts many eyeballs and gets many impressions on social media.
Ola Electric is incurring losses yearly, but as a new-age company, it’s spending a lot on rapid expansion and as soon as it creates an eco-system, Ola will come on profits.
Upcoming Ola electric competitors in 2024:
The year 2024 is for electric vehicles; with advancing EV technology and legacy automakers gearing up to launch new scooters, Ola’s market cap will be under great threat. Here are the top 3 upcoming electric scooters that can compete with the Ola electric.
The SUV of scooters with the biggest boot space among all the scooters, river Indie, is a big, robust, performance electric scooter. Although it doesn’t have any advanced features like a touchscreen panel, speaker or internet connectivity, it’ll be the most reliable and practical electric scooter in the.
Here’s a glimpse of River Indi specifications:
Specifications:
Inde | Specification |
Range | 120km real world |
Top Speed | 90km/h |
Charging time | 5 hours |
Battery | 4kWh |
Motor | 6.7kW (PMSM) |
Charging cost | 4 units |
Fast charging | yes |
Acceleration | 0-40 in 3.7 sec |
2. TVS Smart X Electric
TVS is going heavy on electric scooters; their iQube is making waves in the Indian EV market, and unlike Ola’s rapid growth, the TVS iQube is growing with slow but steady growth. Being a legacy player, TVS has a dealership network advantage over Ola Electric, which can be a hurdle for Ola Electric.
The Smart X will be an advanced, futuristic, and power-flushed electric scooter that can give strong competition to the Ola S1 Pro Gen 2.
Here’s a glimpse of TVS X electric scooter:
Specifications:
TVS X | Specification |
Range | 140km |
Top Speed | 105km/h |
Charging time | 5 hours |
Battery | 4kWh |
Motor | 11kW (PMSM) |
Charging cost | 4 units |
Fast charging | Yes |
Acceleration | 0-40 in 2.6 sec |
3. Ather Apex:
Ather is the front-face competitor of Ola Electric, as both brands share the same target market and play on a similar USP, but due to higher cost, Ather couldn’t sell as many scooters as Ola. But now as Ather Energy has started working on its market-capturing strategy Ather will most likely beat Ola with its new electric scooter, Ather 450X Apex.
The Company claims Apex to be the fastest electric scooter in the country, with the most advanced features and the biggest specifications.
Here’s a glimpse of Ather Apex electric scooter specifications:
450X Apex | Specification |
Range | 157km |
Top Speed | 100km/h |
Charging time | 4 hours |
Battery | 7kWh |
Motor | 7kW (PMSM) |
Charging cost | 7 units |
Fast charging | Yes (1.5 hours) |
Will Ola remain the market leader?
Now, understanding the nuances of Ola and other EV brands is clear: Ola is winning due to its rapid expansion and competitive price/range ratio and replacing Ola can only be possible by any auto giant, and TVS & Bajaj are the 2 rising stars in the EV market that can beat Ola in the upcoming months.
Based on such an immense audience response from the market, it looks like Ola isn’t going anywhere soon, and they will receive similar love from the customers for a very long time. But with the emergence of upcoming electric scooters, Ola sales may have a big impact.
