Ola Electric ready to sell its scooters abroad from 2022

“The factory (at Pochampalli in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu) is an investment that we are making, which is not just for this range of scooters, it is for the whole range of scooters and bikes, and this factory will not only be for India, but even for global manufacturing. So as we go to international markets next year, this factory is going to respond to that as well, ”said Varun Dubey, Marketing Director of Ola Electric on Tuesday.

The company is reviewing major two-wheeler markets in Europe, including France, Germany and Italy, for a potential launch as early as next year, said a person familiar with Ola Electric’s plans under the guise of ‘anonymity.

Earlier this year, Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Agarwal unveiled the company’s plans to sell its electric scooters in international markets.

Ola’s international expansion plans come when it expands its marketing initiatives and plans to expand customer testing of its electric scooters to more than 1,000 cities by mid-December.

Meanwhile, Dubey said the maker of the S1 and S1 Pro scooter models plans to open the next round of reservations for their scooters by the end of January.

Recently, the company has had to push back deliveries of its electric scooters due to the global semiconductor chip shortage, which has impacted its production, just like most other car makers in India.

The first batch of customer deliveries is now scheduled for the last half of December. The company previously planned to deliver the first batch between October 25 and November 25, and opened the final payment window for both scooters on November 10.

“If you look around in the industry, most people are given 14 weeks to a year late. So I think our ability to mitigate (the delays) to just two to three weeks is pretty good … It’s complicated; this is a changing situation — even the best of people cannot foresee it. But at least we’ve made every effort to keep delays as minimal as possible, ”Dubey said.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) industry body estimates that wholesale vehicle sales or factory shipments fell 11% on an annualized basis as the global chip shortage weighed on production.

Meanwhile, as Ola Electric expands its test drive initiative to more cities, it is not opposed to the idea of ​​opening physical outlets in the future.

“Right now our plan is very clear. We bring the scooter directly to customers, whether it’s test drive, delivery or service. Over time, who can say, if the customer comes back and tells us we want a showroom, we’ll do showrooms and experience centers, ”Dubey said.

The company could consider opening experience centers where it will allow customers to enter and experience its scooters, especially in Tier II cities, with the goal of further penetrating the world’s second-largest two-wheeler market. .

Ola Electric is also investing in setting up its “Ola Hypercharger Network” electric vehicle charging network, in order to strengthen the charging infrastructure in the country. It plans to set up 100,000 charging points for two-wheelers in 400 cities.

“To be successful, we have to think of the whole ecosystem. It’s not just the product, or the manufacturing and the manufacturing ecosystem, or the supply chain and the logistics ecosystem. We need to think about the charging infrastructure in this ecosystem. There is the product and the software ecosystem, and the hardware system. We do all of this in a vertically integrated fashion, ”Dubey said when asked about the profitability of Ola Electric’s business model.

In October, Ola raised more than $ 200 million in a funding round led by Falcon Edge and SoftBank.

That same month, Mint announced that Ola was set to raise an additional $ 200 million as part of a new fundraiser that could value the startup at over $ 5 billion.

Several blue chip funds based in the United States are expected to participate in the cycle.