Ola’s new scooters for gig workers: A fresh start rooted in past failures

It was a good week for Ola Electric, and one the EV maker badly needed. Following reports of 80,000 of its scooters awaiting repair at its service centres and a public spat between Ola Electric founder Bhavish Aggarwal and comedian Kunal Kamra regarding the same, the company had seen its share price fall below its IPO issue price of Rs 76. 

However, Ola Electric’s announcement earlier this week that it would launch two affordable new scooters—the Ola Gig and the S1 XZ—has been well-received by the markets. The company’s share price jumped from Rs 73 on Tuesday, the day before the announcement, to Rs 93 at the close of trading on Thursday.

While the Ola Gig’s pricing begins at Rs 39,999, the Ola S1 Z starts at Rs 59,999. The former is targeted at gig workers and the latter for personal commutes. These vehicles also come with a removable battery that can be used as an inverter to power other devices and appliances at home. Ola Electric will be hoping that its new scooters fare better than their predecessor, the S1, which catapulted the company to EV 2-wheeler market leadership but has faced a deluge of customer complaints since.