Electric Scooters: Hit Prime Time

Ola’s flashy entry into the e-scooter space recently has been the talk of the auto industry over the last month. The question is whether the country is ready yet for Ola and other EV makers

- Sameer Kumar

In July this year, Ola Electric, the electric vehicle division of the ridesharing company, hit one out of the park when it opened up bookings for its first electric scooter, the S1. Within 24 hours, the company had 100,000 bookings, despite prices not having been announced at that time. Prices were announced a month later; Rs 1 lakh for the Ola S1 and Rs 1.30 lakh for the S1 Pro, which means those bookings represent at least Rs 1,000 crore of business, and that isn’t exactly chump change. While there are many other e-scooter manufacturers in India, some of whom have been around for more than a decade, none have ever managed to drum up the kind of frenzied interest in e-mobility the way Ola has. For years, nobody cared. Now, suddenly, electric is cool, electric is stylish, and everyone wants to go electric.

Two-wheelers are big business in India; they comprise about 80 per cent of all vehicles on the road, and the market for scooters is enormous, with sales of around 60 lakh units per annum, valued at close to Rs 35,000 crore. Of this, electric scooter sales currently account for barely 1.5 lakh units per year, with ‘high-speed’ (45kph+) e-scooters making up less than 20 per cent of that number. Most scooters sold in India are relatively basic and utilitarian, with 100-125cc engines; hardly ideal for longer-distance travel but perfect for short-distance commuting in crowded cities. However, with petrol prices at around Rs 100/l, and increased awareness amongst buyers about the air pollution caused by internal combustion engines (ICE), and a push from the government for more widespread adoption of EVs, the time may be suitable for a large-scale move to electric mobility.