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Ola Electric has postponed the opening of its second purchase window to December 16 from the earlier announced date of November 1.
In a note to customers, the company has cited unprecedented demand for Ola S1 and S1 Pro scooters as the reason for this delay. Ola said that it is “busy fulfilling existing orders and will be opening the purchase window for fresh orders on December 16, 2021.”
The opening of the first purchase window of Ola e-scooters was also postponed by a week due to a website glitch. Ola claims to have sold over $150 million of electric scooters in the span of two days of opening the first purchase window.
The change in the second purchase window is said to have no effect on those who have already secured their scooters in the first purchase window of September 15 and 16 by paying ₹20,000. The company claimed that the already secured scooters are “on track to reach the customers within the delivery window already communicated to them.”
Last month, Ola also pushed the final payment date of already purchased scooters to November 10. The company said that the final payments will start after the customers have taken the test ride, which is starting from November 10 as well. The customers will have the choice to defer the purchase after taking the test ride.
Fund raise
In September, Ola Electric raised over $200 million from Falcon Edge, Softbank and others investors, at a valuation of $3 billion. Ola Electric has committed to employ 10,000 women at the company’s manufacturing facility Ola Futurefactory and make it entirely women-run. Located in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, Ola Futurefactory is a 500-acre manufacturing unit set up for the production of Ola’s two wheeler EVs. The manufacturing facility is said to have the capacity to produce 10 million electric scooters per year.
Charging network
Along with the manufacturing plans, Ola Electric also has plans to set up a charging network called Ola Hypercharger Network. The company claims to set up more than 100,000 charging points across 400 cities. The first Hypercharger has been installed in the Ola Campus.
However, these charging points would only be accessible to Ola e-scooters. Led by the rise in fuel prices and revised FAME II incentives, two-wheeler EV companies have recorded tremendous growth this year.