The two days of the last weekend at the Ola Electric's sprawling Futurefactory in Hosur, Tamil Nadu was supposed to be, well, electric, as the company had announced the launch of the much-delayed software update MoveOS 2.0 for its S1 Pro e-scooter. The launch show was part of the consumer event, where plenty of Ola owners from across the country, converged in on the what is touted to be world's largest two-wheeler manufacturing plant.
As it happened, the MoveOS 2.0 was unveiled, but as we have seen with Ola's previous launches, this one too saw a glitch as the demonstration of the first-in-a-2-wheeler music playback option from the scooter’s dedicated 10-watt speakers did not happen, causing some embarrassment to the company's hapless executives.
But the MoveOS 2.0 itself is being rolled out to the Ola S1 Pro users through an OTA update in a phased manner. The deadline, it seems, has once again been imperceptibly shifted.
Yet, at the end of it all, the talking point was the impending Ola car, something which the Ola's head honcho Bhavish Aggarwal had hinted at earlier too.
Ola Car: The details are sketchy
But first things first: During the consumer event, the company teased a video in which the dark contours of more than one EV could be seen. This also triggered a speculation as to how many EVs that Ola is working on and whether they would be sedan, hatchback or SUV. The company, which is always accused of being strong on PR work, also let it known through sources that the EV would be launched by the end of the next year.
Really?
First of all, when Bhavish Aggarwal cryptically tweeted the pic of an electric car a few months, the vehicle was just a digital created. And he never committed himself to any other detail. This time around, Ola's teaser too gives nothing away, except the fact the purported car sports the Ola name. Aside from the video, the company has not officially divulged any info about the whole project, and everything what you see in the media around this fledgling car is based on conjectures and guesses.
And that is what Ola perhaps wanted. To get the media and the public talking about something other than the problems faced by it vis-a-vis its electric scooters.
After the two-day extravaganza, little is known whether the company has managed to address the issues of low range, non-charging, range drops, scooter refusing to start, sudden reversing, uncontrolled honking, etc. One will get to know about it only when the OTA update of Move OS 2.0 actually arrives. Also, little known is about the possible car too.
This makes us to ask the question that we have posed in the headline: Ola Car - Is it a red herring to take focus away from the company's problems?
One can answer in the affirmative considering the fact that Ola Electric has managed to shift the narrative (in the media and social media platforms) from its immediate problems to something that can happen in the distant future.
Ola electric car: Realism need of the hour
Building some cars 🏎 pic.twitter.com/GZdProgQaQJune 17, 2022
It is not as if Ola Electric is not working to sort out the teething issues with its electric scooters. The company, to be fair, did take many of its customers around the factory and showed around the facilities, which it should be said, are mighty impressive. To be sure, the company has both the technology and space to build a separate electric car assembly line. It is also a fact that Ola electric car will indeed happen.
But it looks extremely impossible by the end of next year (we reiterate that the company has not officially said this but has let it slip this info through friendly sources). An electric car takes time to build and put it on road. It can't be done through short cuts. If a company takes that route, it will not only have egg on its face but also putting the lives of end-users in peril. Ola Electric, one hopes, has learnt its lessons from its unseemly haste with regard to its electric scooters.
Not PR brownie points, but hard-nosed realism and common-sense approach is the need of the hour.
