After Nepal, Ola Electric Announces Escooter Launch In Italy

Bengaluru-based electric mobility startup Ola Electric will be participating in the upcoming EICMA show, more popularly known as the Milan Motorcycle Show, showcasing its S1 and S1 Pro scooters.

The company founder Bhavish Aggarwal took to Twitter and said, “Planning to take the best scooter in the world to Italy next week.”

The move comes shortly after the EV startup forayed into Nepal and announced plans to launch Ola S1 and S1 Pro scooters beginning next quarter. The startup signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Nepalese conglomerate Chaudhary Group (CG) which will serve as the local distributor for Ola EVs in Nepal. 

In the next phase of the expansion, Ola Electric also announced that it will take the S1 and S1 Pro scooters to five key markets including Latin America, Southeast Asian Nations region and the European Union.

Ola Electric also recently launched its third escooter in India. The Ola S1 Air would be available within the affordable category and will be priced at INR 79,999.

The affordable S1 Air will be built on the same S1 platform as the premium S1 and S1 Pro scooters. The price reduction comes with the lessened weight of the scooter, the battery capacity, the ARAI range and the motor capacity.

Ola Electric also launched its new software upgrade – Move OS3 with new features such as proximity mode (for an auto-unlock system), vacation mode (to conserve battery power), screen calls, auto-reply mode, multi-sharing of the scooter (without giving them keys and documents), party mode (that changes lights according to a song), hyper charging and more.

Besides, as EV adoption is on the rise in India, the company is also planning to launch its first electric car in 2024 and expand its production facilities to mass-produce the Ola Lithium-ion cell.

The foray into international markets also comes at a time when Ola Electric is suffering with order fulfilment within its home country. Whether it is the rise of EVs or production mismatch, Ola sold 9,616 escooters in September 2022. But there has been a social media uproar from users whose scooters are not yet delivered, or if delivered have older operating systems or poor build quality.

Yet, new launches, multiple software updates to fix bugs, the set up of experience centres and the festive season have led to a rise in sales, with the company optimist of profitability in ‘few quarters’.