It is no surprise that Ola Electric has been in the works to produce an electric scooter and we have even seen some images of the product. But for the first time, we have a video of the scooter out on the roads of Bangalore and being ridden by none other than Bhavish Aggarwal, Chairman and Group CEO, Ola. A video uploaded on the Ola Electric YouTube channel shows the scooter navigating through the urban jungle and the impressive storage space under the seat.
When you look at the scooter, your eyes are immediately drawn towards the unique headlamp design. There are two circular units, bordered by an LED light strip, giving it the look of a face with two eyes. The rest of the scooter follows a minimalistic design approach and is rather plain all around. It almost has a retro vibe to it, despite running on futuristic tech. A rather interesting thing about this scooter is the quirky turn indicator design and placement. You can see a single strip of LEDs on both sides of the apron, just above the wheel. A similar design element is seen at the back where the LED strips are connected to the stop lamp. There is a split grab rail for the pillion and the short and wide tail lamp design that is reminiscent of cruiser motorcycles.
The video does not give away any numbers in terms of specifications but does state that the scooter will be very quick and offer an agile ride. It will come with alloy wheels and a disc brake at the front. The company has hinted that their first scooter would have a range of 150km on a single charge. Through fast charging, half of that range can be achieved in just 18 mins. In terms of top speed, the scooter should be able to hit the 90kmph mark and achieve an impressive acceleration time since it is an EV.
We did, however, learn that the Ola Electric scooter is going to come with a roomy underseat storage compartment that is being touted as the best in the segment. The video shows two helmets fitting in it easily, which is more than what we can say about almost every scooter in the market right now. It will also get a dully digital instrument cluster and support smartphone integration like its competitor Ather 450X.
The company is in the process of building its manufacturing Futurefactory in Tamil Nadu and it is going to be the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturing facility. Through their Hypercharging network, the company also plans to build over 1 lakh charging points spread across the country. Such a move will definitely encourage more buyers to consider EVs as lack of charging infrastructure is one of the key concerns that discourage people to make the switch from conventional vehicles. Ola is determined to price their scooter aggressively and we expect it to have a price tag of about Rs 1 lakh. Once launched, the scooter would compete with the likes of Ather 450X, TVS iQube and Bajaj Chetak.