Ola Electric unveils S1 Air scooter at an introductory price of Rs 79,999

Ola said this is a big push towards taking India closer to ending the era of petrol vehicles

Ola Electric, the ride-hailing firm's electric vehicle arm, on Saturday unveiled a new variant of S1 scooter called the Ola S1 Air at an introductory price of Rs 79,999. The SoftBank-backed firm said this is a big push towards taking India closer to ending the era of petrol vehicles.

"Our objective has been to transform the Indian mobility landscape to electric. The next logical step for us is to launch a mass-market scooter, and that's what we've done today," said Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, Ola. "The specs and the price point of this product will shake up the market. I think that's an understatement."

The Ola S1 Air will come at an introductory price of Rs 79,999 for everyone who reserves the scooter for Rs 999 on or before Diwali, i.e. October 24, 2022. After that, the price will be raised to Rs 84,999.

The purchase window for the Ola S1 Air will open in February 2023, and deliveries are scheduled to commence in early April next year.

S1 Air is Ola's third product in the electric two-wheeler category. Its top-tier S1 Pro is priced at Rs 139,000, without the festive discount, and Ola S1 costs Rs 99,000. Honda Activa, one of the largest-selling petrol scooters in the country, is priced at around Rs 90,000.

From 4000 units a month before Ola's entry into electric mobility,  Aggarwal said electric vehicles (EVs) now stand for 15 per cent of the entire scooter segment. He said in cities like Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune, it is even higher at 40 per cent of the new scooter sales.

"The Indian EV industry has really accelerated over the last one-and-a-half-years. Last year in June, only 4000  electric two-wheelers were sold. Last month 50,000 were sold. This month, I think 60,000-70,000 vehicles will be sold," said Aggarwal. "Among all (premium) scooters priced about Rs 1 lakh on the road,  Ola has almost 50 per cent of the market."

The firm said the new S1 Air would have a real-life range of 100 kilometres on a full charge when used in eco-mode. It is built on the S1 platform and retains the same design. But Ola has re-engineered the powertrain and battery pack. Powered by a 2.5KWh battery pack and a 4.5KW hub motor, the S1 Air weighs only 99 kgs, delivers a top speed of 85 Km/hr, and goes from 0-40 in just 4.3 seconds.

Aggarwal said many engineering improvements are continuing over the last eight months at the firm, which helped to reduce the weight and cost of the S1 Air.

"We follow a continuous engineering process versus an annual or a waterfall engineering process which most global traditional OEMs (adopt)," said Aggarwal. "We make more software style approach where the product is a little different from the inside every month and  the customer doesn't realise it."

For instance, Ola announced its third major software upgrade within a year, MoveOS 3. The latest over-the-air upgrade adds more than 20 new features and comes with a bunch of improvements on performance. Some of the newly launched features in MoveOS 3 will include Proximity Unlock, Party Mode, Moods, and compatibility with Ola's Hypercharger network. With Ola Hyperchargers, users can now charge their scooters up to 50km in 15 minutes at a charging speed of 3km per minute. In addition, the latest MoveOS 3 update will also introduce many more features, such as Hill Hold, Profiles, and Vacation Mode.

Ola has also announced the launch of two of the accessories that add to the core vehicle platform. These include a buddy step for passengers who prefer to sit sideways and a centre stand for hassle-free parking in small, tight spaces.

The S1 Air is available in colours such as coral glam, neo mint, porcelain white, jet black, and liquid silver. The scooter would be rolled out in neighbouring Nepal later this year. Ola also has plans to launch it in Europe and Latin America by early next year.