🛵 Ola’s EV Game Is Set Ablaze; Q-Commerce And Used Cars Dreams Foiled

Ride-hailing giant Ola has been putting its eggs into way too many baskets lately. We mean, from ride-hailing (Ola Cabs), food business (Ola Cafes), Q-commerce (Ola Dash) to electric vehicles, and finally trying its hands on the used car business — it was high time that Ola thought about single-tasking.

And so it did. Ola has reassessed its priorities and decided to shut down the quick commerce business, Ola Dash, and its used car division Ola Cars, which took off only 8 months ago.

Earlier in January this year, Ola announced its expansion plans for Ola Dash, but later decided to scale down its ‘dark stores’ business. This arm, too, will sling its hook as all technology and capabilities will now be repurposed toward growing Ola Electric sales and service network.

The Snag

Ola’s electric two-wheeler business is set ablaze in more than one way. The business crossed Rs. 500 Cr revenue in the first 2 months of FY 22–23. Although the company’s sales have slowed down, Ola Electric asserted that it is on track to cross the USD 1 billion (over Rs.7,800 Cr) revenue by this year-end. The company recently claimed that its young EV business has already become India’s largest EV company within months of launch.

But here’s the catch. With the rising incidents of its e-scooters catching fire every few days, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued a notice to Ola Electric to cite the reasons for the fire and share the details of quality standards. It has allowed 15 days for Ola Electric to reply to the notice.

The watchdog also issued notices to Pure EV and Boom Motors last month after their e-scooters exploded.

Will Ola land in another soup?

Too long? Here’s a one-liner: Ola Electric will focus on electric vehicles as e-scooters cross Rs. 500 Cr mark in first 2 months; Q-commerce and used cars arm to shut operations.

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