CHENNAI: Small town India is taking to electric scooters in a big way. According to Ola Electric, smaller locations like Durg in Chattisgarh, Belgaum, Tumkur and Hassan in Karnataka, Ernakulam in Kerala and Tirupur in Tamil Nadu are boasting 35%-60% penetration in electric scooters.
“Kolhapur is among the top five penetration markets, Belgaum has 50%-60% penetration, Durg 35%-40% and Tirupur 30%,” said Anshul Khandelwal, CMO, Ola Electric.
That’s comparable to the top cities like Bengaluru which has 45%-50% e-scooter penetration, Pune 35%-40%, Surat 35% and Jaipur 33% electric scooter penetration, he added. Overall, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka are the top penetration states, he said.
Ola is tapping these centres as it works towards taking its experience centre network to 1,000 in the next two months. The company has just rolled out its 500th experience centre in Srinagar in time to catch the “hockey stick growth in electric scooter sales in the next two quarters,” said Khandelwal.
The company is expanding footprint in Tier 2 and 3 cities where opening up of an experience centre takes penetration from 1%-2% to 8%-10%, he said adding, “the smaller towns are where we see significant growth.”
Ola, which currently has a 40% share of the e-scooter market, is looking to increase its marketshare to 60%-70%, added Khandelwal. “We did around 30,000 units last month and we are targeting 40,000-50,000 this month,” he added.
Ola would expand its scooter portfolio to address all price points this year, he said. Apart from S1 and S1Pro, the third model will come later this year and “then a few more” he said.
Ola introduced its D2C sales & service model for two-wheelers in India, which included doorstep delivery and servicing. Although the company now has 500 experience centres across the country, a significant portion of its sales still comes from its website and apps.
