Ola’s CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has tweeted a render of an electric car suggesting that the company is already working on one. While he hasn’t shared anything about the current state of development or a timeline of launch, however, his response to an Ola S1 Pro owner on Twitter also hints that the car might launch soon.
Bhavish Aggarwal wrote on Twitter “Can you guys keep a secret?” and the tweet carries a concept for the upcoming car from the company.
Can you guys keep a secret? 🤫🤫 pic.twitter.com/8I9NMe2eLJJanuary 25, 2022
While the design indeed looks impressive and futuristic, it is safe to assume that the car that Ola would end up launching would not look like this. Also, if the company ends up making a car similar to this - it might be extremely costly.
Currently, the Indian market only has a handful of options in electric cars and though the segment is already witnessing a spike in sales, it still needs a lot more automakers to join the bandwagon. In terms of pricing the cheapest electric car in the Indian market starts at Rs. 10 lakhs approximately and the most sold electric car, the Tata Nexon EV, is priced north of Rs. 15 lakhs.
This is clearly not the price bracket that has most cars in India. The market needs multiple practical options priced in the range of Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 8 lakh to drive mass adoption.
- Maruti isn’t offering EVs but you can still buy a battery-powered Ignis
- India's largest carmaker Maruti set to launch its first EV - but you'd have to wait some more to buy it
Ola Electric Car might launch in 2023
Ola has repeatedly mentioned that wants to introduce an electric car as well as battery-powered bikes in the Indian market and the latest tweet from Bhavish is nothing short of an announcement of the company’s plans.
Also, the teaser comes in just a day after the company has raised $200 which is presumably aimed at accelerating the development of electric vehicles and expanding the ecosystem of the country. Aggarwal mentioned that the company is “looking forward to bringing innovative products to more two-wheeler categories, including bikes, as well as cars."
The company had already announced a couple of scooters last year and though these scooters are aggressively priced and have an impressive set of features, the company hasn’t had a smooth ride. The delivery of scooters was delayed initially and there were complaints about the delayed availability of features.
The company has built a Hyper Factory in Tamil Nadu to develop its vehicles. And though the factory will be able to make 2 million scooters once fully ready, the company has struggled in meeting the demand and had to postpone the production of its cheaper scooter to focus on the deliveries of the premium variant.
Want to know about the latest happenings in tech? Follow TechRadar India on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
