Ola Electric might be new in the electric two-wheeler market of India and is in the news for several wrong reasons related to quality constraints and technical glitches. But the new player in the electric mobility scene in India is moving up rapidly and has dethroned Hero Electric to become the number one electric two-wheeler manufacturer in India.
In April 2022, Ola Electric sold 12,683 units of its S1 Pro scooter across India, thus witnessing a month-on-month growth of around 39 per cent compared to sales in March 2022. On the other hand, Hero Electric sold 6,570 units of its range of electric scooters, thus registering a month-on-month sales decline of around 50 per cent. With this number, it has fallen to the third position behind Okinawa, which sold more than 10,000 electric scooters at the same time. These sales numbers mentioned above have been sourced from the registrations of two-wheelers on the Central Government’s Vahan Portal.
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Ola sales high due declining Hero Electric sales
According to Sohinder Gill, CEO of Hero Electric, the significant decline in the sales of Hero Electric is due to the acute shortage of semiconductor chips, which in general has affected the sales of all the vehicle manufacturers in the country. He also added that this slowdown in the sales performance is expected to be continued for May as well. However, he said that the company is working on improving the production capacity of its plant during this time.
Gill also took a sly dig at Ola Electric by saying that Hero Electric is evaluating the options to enhance the systems and processes and quality measures, owing to the recent incidents of electric scooters catching fire in the open. He also said that the industry leaders of electric mobility should introspect and improve their technical groundwork to re-instil the faith of customers in electric two-wheelers, which have hit a speed breaker due to the recent fire incidents.
Ola recalled scooters
Ola Electric recently recalled around 1,441 scooters as a corrective measure in response to an incident from Pune, where an S1 Pro caught fire. Ola Electric is yet to give an official statement regarding the cause of this incident. Apart from this, many incidents related to technical, software and quality issues in the Ola S1 Pro have come out on social media. Serious software issues, like scooters going in reverse at a high speed and the remaining range dropping down suddenly, have been reported in many parts of the country.
Unlike other electric two-wheeler manufacturers who sell their offerings through the conventional method of selling through dealer outlets, Ola Electric follows a direct-to-home delivery process through its authorized website.
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