Ola Electric To Set Up 200+ Experience Centres To Drive More Sales

Electric mobility startup Ola Electric is launching over 200 experience centres across India by March, its cofounder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said in a tweet on Sunday (September 18).

As per Aggarwal, Ola Electric is already opening 20 such experience centres.

“Experience centres will enable even more people to experience our products,” he said. “Customers (are) loving the convenience of online purchases and test rides — thousands a day and growing.”

These experience centres won’t be retail outlets, a person aware of the matter clarified.

The latest announcement comes a month after the startup launched new and more affordable variants of its Ola S1 Pro scooter on August 15. Last month, Ola Electric also revealed its other growth plans, such as expanding its production facilities, mass-producing Ola’s Lithium-ion cells, launching its electric four-wheeler in 2024, and more.

However, the latest development comes despite Ola Electric witnessing dwindling demand for its escooters since May this year. 

From April, when Ola Electric saw its highest number of vehicle registration at 12,707 units, the number dropped to 9,268 units in May, as per Vahan data. In the next two months, the fall was sharper with its total vehicle registration standing at 3,863 units in July. 

Comparatively, the fall was more marginal in August with the numbers standing at 3,438 units, representing an 11% slump.

However, it is pertinent to note that Ola Electric with its newer strategies of an affordable vehicle variant and others is regaining customer traction. Till September 19, the startup has already seen registrations for 4,264 units of escooters, Vahan data suggests.

Ola Electric’s name got attached to various EV-related safety incidents that have been rampant in the country since the beginning of the year. Despite the criticisms and controversies around Ola Electric’s overall products and services, Aggarwal kept the buzz alive that his startup would emerge as one of the most innovative EV companies in India.

It also signed an agreement with the Ministry of Heavy Industries under the government’s INR 18,100 Cr Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing advanced chemistry cells (ACCs) for EVs in the country.

However, amid various expansion-related developments and hiring at Ola Electric, Aggarwal’s Ola entity continues to lay off employees. After laying off around 1,000 employees across multiple verticals in July, as per recent reports, it fired 200 employees from software engineering profiles across verticals.

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