MUMBAI: Ola Electric, India’s largest electric two-wheeler manufacturer, is ramping up its expansion efforts with plans to launch one new product every quarter and increase its company-owned stores to 2,000 by March 2025.
This aggressive growth strategy comes as the Bengaluru-based company faces heightened competition from established players and continues to address concerns regarding after-sales service quality.
“Over the next two years, we will be launching 20 products, with at least one new product launch every quarter,” stated Ola Electric in its latest investor presentation.
Currently, Ola has the most extensive range of electric scooters in the country, offering six models priced between Rs 75,000 and Rs 150,000. The company is now setting its sights on expanding into other two-wheeler and three-wheeler categories.
In August, Ola Electric introduced its Roadster motorcycle series, with the first deliveries set for March 2025. The series is priced between Rs 74,999 and Rs 249,999 and includes three models with eight variants.
Ola anticipates faster adoption of electric motorcycles compared to scooters, attributing this to the existing infrastructure and awareness around EVs. T
he company also reported that its Gen 3 platform, launched in August, is ahead of schedule, with S1 Gen 3 products slated for delivery in January 2025. This platform is expected to yield 20% savings in bill of materials (BOM) costs over the coming 12 months.
On its store expansion strategy, Ola Electric reported having 782 company-owned stores as of September 2024, with each store averaging 130 sales per quarter – roughly two to three times the industry average.
“We’re expanding our company-owned store (and colocated service infrastructure) network to 2,000 company-owned stores by March 2025. In addition to our company-owned stores, we launched the ‘Network Partner Programme’ in September, aimed at accelerating the EV revolution across India, where EV penetration remains low. Through this programme, we have over 1,000 partners live and aim to grow this to 10,000 partners, across sales and service, by the end of 2025,” stated the company.
Ola Electric reported a narrowed net loss of Rs 495 crore for the quarter ending September 2024, compared with Rs 524 crore in the same quarter last year. Revenue from operations increased by 39% year-on-year to Rs 1,214 crore in the September quarter.
The company’s gross margins for Q2 FY2025 stood at 20.6%, with a focus on technology and vertical integration expected to lift steady-state margins above 30%, even after incentives are phased out.
The Gen 3 platform’s ramp-up beginning in January is anticipated to drive continuous improvement in gross margins over the next few quarters.
Ola delivered 98,619 electric scooters in the quarter under review, compared with 125,000 units delivered in the previous quarter. However, e-scooter deliveries increased 73% on an annual basis.
“We have maintained our market leadership with a 33% market share during Q2 FY25 despite aggressive competitive action… Our mass-market portfolio (sub-INR 1 Lakh) continues to drive momentum and has grown 15% quarter-on-quarter, boosting EV penetration, while our premium portfolio remains the majority of our revenue,” said Ola Electric.