Welcome Rivals, Will Beat Both Indian And Global: Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal

During the weekend, Bhavish Aggarwal, chairman and group CEO, Ola was seen at the Ola Electric campus in Bengaluru, playing with one of the many stray dogs adopted by the company. These dogs are collared, fed, and taken care of by the firm. Aggarwal was there at the campus to demonstrate the features of Ola S1, the first in its range of electric two-wheelers, that was launched on Sunday. The SoftBank-backed company said that Ola S1 is designed and engineered in India for the world and will deliver the best scooter experience to the consumers. Ola S1 starts at Rs 99,999, not including state govt incentives, registration, and insurance.

“It will be the best scooter ever made, not just the best electric scooter,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, chairman, and group CEO, Ola, during a roundtable at the Ola Electric campus in Bengaluru. “We have to make technology, which is the best in the world and that's what we're doing. We've been saying we'll build our own technology. We built our own technology. All of this has been done by Indian teams based here in this office, and it's world-leading.”

The launch comes days after Tesla CEO Elon Musk had expressed hopes that the Indian government will slash tax on imported electric cars. Earlier Aggarwal had said he was not in favor of the government paring duty on imported electric vehicles and the comments went viral on social media. But Aggarwal on Saturday said that many people misinterpreted his comment that his firm didn’t want any competition.

“I welcome that gentleman to India. Competition is good,” said Aggarwal. “Indian industry together has to create this sustainability revolution in India.”

This includes growing the Indian technology and manufacturing ecosystem. Companies, whether Indian or international, should invest in the country. “Anybody who wants to import into India should invest in India. It is the best place to invest,” said Aggarwal. “Many people misinterpreted my comment that ‘we don't want the competition.’ Nothing like that. We welcome competition and we will beat the competition, whether it is Indian or global.”

In India, Ola is now in direct competition with electric two-wheeler makers, such as Ather Energy, Hero Electric, and TVS Motor Company. Ola has S1 (Rs 99,999) and S1 Pro (Rs 1,29,999) electric scooter models. S1 Pro has 3.97 kWh (kilowatt-hour) battery packs, enough power for a range of 181 km in a single charge.

The cheaper S1 has a smaller 2.98 KwH battery pack. Experts said it is still larger than that offered in the Ather 450X, Bajaj Chetak or TVS iQube scooters, which will give the S1 a range of 121 kilometers, while its top speed will be limited to a 90 km/h.

The opportunity is huge in the country. About 160 million people in India today own a two-wheeler and that will increase significantly. “We need our people to own mobility solutions,” said Aggarwal. He was of the view that the amount of pollution contributed by the traditional automotive industry is very high and electrification is the only sustainable solution. He said electric vehicles are many times more efficient and sustainable than gasoline vehicles. In terms of total cost of ownership (TCO), Aggarwal said the vehicle would be 40 per cent lower than the petrol vehicle in a 4-5 year cycle.

“The only true solution for us is to genuinely completely reject petrol and commit to electrification,” said Aggarwal, who often interrupts himself to ask “What do you think?.”

He said after 2025, no petrol two-wheeler should be sold in India and it is possible to make this transition to sustainability in four years.

Chasing that mission, Ola had announced in December 2020 that it will be investing Rs 2,400 crore for setting up phase 1 of the factory. The Ola Futurefactory is coming up on a 500-acre site in Tamil Nadu. At full capacity of 10 million vehicles annually, it will be the world’s largest two-wheeler factory and would handle 15 per cent of the world capacity.

“That is not just electric,” said Aggarwal. “All of the two-wheelers in the world, the entire production capacity, this one single factory will have 15 per cent.”

Ola’s mega-factory will have an initial capacity of 2 million units a year in phase 1 this year. It will serve as the company’s global manufacturing hub for its range of electric-powered scooters and two-wheelers across India and international markets including Europe, UK, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand.

“We have top-notch engineering and manufacturing talent,” said Aggarwal. “We can build the best in the world here in India and sell anywhere.”

He said two-wheelers are a growing global market especially after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic as more people want to have their own personal vehicles. “We want to be the global leader.”

Unlike traditional automotive firms, Ola Electric controls its core engineering and technologies in-house. This includes designing and building its own battery packs, motors, vehicle computers and software. Last year in May, Ola Electric acquired Etergo BV, an Amsterdam-based electric scooter original equipment manufacturer. When asked about the contribution from the Etergo vehicle, Aggarwal said the design is similar, but everything has been re-engineered.

Experts said that global supply chains, currently heavily dependent on China, would see a big change in a post-pandemic world with businesses shifting their reliance to other countries. But Ola said all the components have been sourced from India, except the cells that come from South Korea. “I don’t think there is Chinese (procurement) for us,” he said.

Analysts said that the world is facing a shortage of chips, and India is no exception as supply chains were getting disrupted due to the pandemic. The chip shortage is now expected to cost the global automotive industry $110 billion in revenue in 2021. It is slowing recovery in the Indian auto industry as well.

“We've been dealing with it and have overcome it in the short term,” said Aggarwal. “But it's something I believe the industry will continue to deal with for the next 6-9 months. It is a challenge.”

Last month, Ola said that its electric scooter received a record-breaking 100,000 bookings within the first 24 hours, making it the most pre-booked scooter in the world. Last month, Ola Electric and Bank of Baroda signed the biggest long-term debt financing agreement in the Indian electric vehicle (EV) space. This 10-year debt of $100 million is towards funding and financial closure of phase 1 of the Ola Futurefactory, Ola’s global manufacturing hub for its electric two-wheelers.

Ola Electric had also revealed its plans to set up the world’s largest electric two-wheeler charging network. The aim is to provide charging solutions to all its electric two-wheeler customers. It had unveiled the Ola Hypercharger Network, the charging network for its two-wheeler products. The Ola Hypercharger Network will be the widest and densest electric two-wheeler charging network in the world, with more than 100,000 charging points across 400 cities. In the first year alone, Ola had said it is setting up over 5,000 charging points across 100 cities in India, more than double the existing charging infrastructure in the country. Ola along with its partners would set it up at an estimated cost of $2 billion over a period of five years. Besides large cities, it is also witnessing huge demand from small towns and cities for its scooter.

Scooter features

The company said the scooter inspires range confidence with an industry-leading range of upto 181 Km, acceleration of 0-40 kmph in three seconds, and a top speed of 115 kmph respectively. It is equipped with a hyperdrive motor. The vehicle has been designed and perfected in-house, the 8.5 kW motor is the most powerful in the industry, has high thermal efficiency, unparalleled peak power, and torque.

Its proprietary Battery Management System (BMS) works actively to monitor the battery for optimal durability, performance, range, and safety.

The firm said Ola S1 brings the most advanced technology ever put in two-wheelers. It has a vehicle control unit (VCU). Designed and engineered by Ola, the firm said the smart VCU gives the best in class performance with an Octa-core processor, 3 GB of RAM, and high-speed connectivity through 4G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

The scooter has an advanced HMI (human-machine interface) feature. Powered by a multi-microphone array and AI speech recognition algorithms built in-house, it comes with one of the sharpest, brightest 7-inch touchscreen displays seen in a scooter. Proximity unlock enables an advanced keyless experience as smart onboard sensors to communicate with your phone that lets you be key-free and worry-free by unlocking your scooter when you are in range and automatically locking it as you leave. The scooters also come with voice recognition that enables the user to complete their key tasks quickly without having to bother with navigating the menu.

The vehicle also offers the Ola Moods feature. Powered by the proprietary operating system MoveOS, Ola Moods will radically change the ride experience including the look and feel of the display and even how the scooter sounds.

The firm said the vehicle is the most silent scooters in the industry. Ola S1 offers a unique, customized vehicle sound experience played out through integrated speakers. This includes ‘Bolt’ which is designed for those who love speed. It puts the speed and power right at the center. There is ‘Care’ where the tree of your choice will grow as much as the CO2 you’re saving every day by riding with the S1. The ‘Vintage’ mood feature is Inspired from the heritage of finest craftsmanship, this is how the Ola S1 would have looked in the ‘50s. There is also ‘Wonder’, a pure sci-fi experience, with the sound to match.

Regarding safety and security features, the vehicle includes an anti-theft alert system and geo-fencing. The front and rear disc brakes keep the rider safe in city stop and go traffic, while ‘Hill Hold’ feature makes navigating inclines easy.

The scooter is available in 2 variants - S1 and S1 Pro, in 10 colors with satin, matte and glossy finishes. It stands out in beautiful colors, iconic twin headlamps, ergonomic and fluidic body, superior alloy wheels, and sculpted seating. It has the largest boot space that fits 2 helmets comfortably.