Ola Electric faces litmus test as electric motorcycles fail to pick up globally
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Ola Electric Mobility Ltd's stock has fallen by nearly 10% after it said on 25 December that it would expand its network to 4,000 outlets from 800 to improve customer service. While this should have been perceived as a positive, within 48 hours of the announcement, a fresh problem cropped up.
The fall in stock price may be attributed to old unconfirmed reports of key managerial personnel quitting the company. Ola confirmed this on Friday after market hours. Suvonil Chatterjee, the company’s chief technology and product officer and Anshul Khandelwal, chief marketing officer, have quit the company.
Even though the current penetration of electric scooters is just about 21.4% in total scooter sales as of September, the fact remains that Ola allowed incumbent internal combustion engine (ICE) rivals such as Bajaj Auto Ltd and TVS Motor Co. Ltd to catch up in electric scooter space owing to product and service issues. The Q3FY25 data from Vaahan website shows that Ola scooter sales barely grew by 0.3% year-on-year to 84,147 units.
The company will have a chance to correct the shortcomings of its scooter segment as the network expansion could help grab a bigger opportunity in motorcycles. Motorcycles account for two-thirds of the total two-wheeler sales in India. Whether one looks at the premium end of motorcycles, where Royal Enfield is the leader, or companies like Bajaj Auto that are doing well in the lower end, they have not launched any electric motorcycles so far.
Ola has already started taking bookings for the Roadster series of motorcycles. Ola’s Roadster is priced competitively versus the traditional motorbikes, and the announced range for a single charge is also good. The
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