Ola Electric slashes prices of cheapest e-scooter by 12.5%
PTC News Desk: India's largest electric scooter manufacturer Ola Electric slashed the price of its cheapest variant by 12.5%, as the company sought to boost sales after the government reduced subsidies.
Ola [OLAE.NS] has reduced the price of the cheapest variant of its S1X model to 69,999 rupees (about $839) from 79,999 rupees, according to Anshul Khandelwal, the company's marketing chief. The prices of other S1X variants were reduced by 5.6% to 9.1%.
The SoftBank Group-backed company launched the S1X scooters in August of last year, just months after the government, in an unexpected move, reduced incentives to purchase e-scooters. However, some analysts believe the price cuts will hurt Ola.
"Ola is already selling its higher-end S1X models at a loss. Selling the base variant at a lower price is not financially viable, and it is not something they can do indefinitely," said a Mumbai-based analyst who declined to be identified because they are not authorised to speak to the media.
The Bengaluru-based company sold 326,443 e-scooters in fiscal year 2024. While it exceeded its target of 300,000, it had reduced the estimate by two-thirds.
Ola remains costlier than Ather
Regardless of the price reductions, Ola's cheapest e-scooter is more expensive than the lowest-priced variants of TVS Motor and Hero MotoCorp-backed Ather, which cost over 100,000 rupees.
However, it is less expensive than Honda's Activa, India's best-selling petrol scooter, which retails for 78,000-82,000 rupees.
- With inputs from agencies
