Indian ride-hailing major, Ola Cabs, have launched their first electric scooter at Rs 1 lakh for the base Ola Electric S1 model.
Bhavish Aggarwal, the co-founder of Ola Cabs has been tirelessly teasing and promoting the start-up’s new electric scooter for a while now and finally the prices have been announced. Not surprisingly, Ola Electric have been attracting good traction among the electric scooter buyers of India.
The new e-scooter is offered in two variants – the Ola Electric S1, priced at Rs 1 lakh and the peppier Ola Electric S1 Pro which costs Rs 1.30 lakh. If you live in a state which offers monetary benefits for electric vehicles, then you can save up to Rs 20,000. People who’ve already reserved a slot now get a chance to purchase the scooters. The entire process is completely digital and those who want to see the scooter in the flesh will have to wait a while. This is strictly on a first-come-first-serve basis and the window will stay open only until stocks last. EMIs begin at Rs 2,999 for the Ola S1 and Rs 3,199 for the Ola S1 Pro.
Here’s the state-wise pricing:
Battery and Electric Motor
Both the Ola Electric S1 and Ola Electric S1 Pro are powered by an 8.5-kW (11.6 hp) electric motor with a continuous output of 5.5 kW (7.5 hp), making it as powerful as sporty IC scooters like the Aprilia SR 160. The S1 gets a 2.98-kWh, non-removable, lithium-ion battery pack as compared to the Pro’s 3.97-kWh battery. And for a full charge, the smaller battery takes 4:48 hours, while the Pro takes a good 6:30 hours. Interestingly, using a fast charger you can get enough juice for 75 km in just 18 minutes. While the S1 promises to hit a top speed of 90 km/h with a 121-km range, the S1 Pro can go up to 115 km/h and return a range of 181 km. In the exclusive ‘Hyper’ mode, the S1 Pro claims to achieve 60 km/h in 5.0 seconds, making it about 2 seconds faster than the S1 which only gets the standard ‘Normal’ and ‘Sport’ modes. These numbers should make the Ola Electric scooter a decent city ride.
Cycle Parts
Both the Ola Electric scooters are based on the same cycle parts including a tubular frame, a single telescopic arm up front and a monoshock at the rear. The e-scooter runs on 12-inch alloys shod with 110/70 R12 tyres, which looks proportionate to the overall dimensions. Braking duty is managed by discs at both ends, with a 220-mm disc at the front and a 180-mm disc at the rear wheel, offered with the safety net of CBS. However, we would’ve liked to see ABS at least on the top-end trim. In terms of body colour, the Ola Electric S1 is offered in five non-metallic options, while the S1 Pro gets an additional five metallic colours to choose from. In terms of practicality, there’s a pretty usable 36-litre, under-seat storage area, an approachable 792-mm saddle height and the 165-mm ground clearance should be enough to tackle most urban challenges.
Features
There’s a long list of equipment including some standard features such as proximity lock/unlock, remote boot unlock, anti-theft alert, geo-fencing, smartphone connectivity with onboard navigation, Limp Home and reverse modes. Meanwhile, Hill Hold, cruise control and voice assistance are exclusively offered with the more premium Ola Electric S1 Pro.
Though the Indian two-wheeler landscape is dominated by models with internal combustion engines, there has been a growing interest by established conventional manufacturers and several start-ups in the electric mobility space. Tapping on this growing demand, Ola Electric will be taking up the fight against established models like the Bajaj Chetak, TVS iQube, and Ather 450X. Apart from this, Ola Electric are aiming to set up charging stations in 100 cities within the first year of their operations.
