Ola sells 3,426 electric scooters in July; 42% less than June

Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric sold 3,426 units in July 2022, a 42 per cent month-on-month fall as compared to 5,874 units sold in June, latest data by the federation of automobile dealers associations (FADA) reveals. 

Since it started delivering in December 2021, the Bengaluru-based company has faced problems with RTO (regional transport office) registrations, software glitches, overheating, poor service, etc. Its month-on-month sales have seen a constant decline. While the company became the top electric two-wheeler maker in April 2022 after selling 12,691 units, May onwards the company started seeing a decline as its sales fell to 9,225 units.

Vehicle production at its Future Factory in Krishnagiri, Tamilnadu, that started eight months ago, was paused citing annual maintenance. According to recent reports, it was due to inventory build-up owing to cancellations. Ola Electric, however, denied it. “Like most auto companies that go through annual maintenance at their factories, we did too. At no point can this be considered as shutting down production. Hence, clarifying that (information) is untrue,” it said in a statement.

Going by the company’s month production capacity of nearly 15,600, the company is still producing way less than that each month. It is also interesting to note that Ola Electric had managed to bag over 1 lakh bookings within two days of the sale-window opening online and until July this year, it hasn’t managed to sell even half of that number indicating that the company’s factory has been operating at less than 50 per cent of its installed capacity.

After announcing its plans to expand its quick commerce business Ola Dash in January this year to open 500 dark stores across 20 cities, the company in June shut down Ola Dash and reoriented Ola cars, its used cars division to focus on its electric business. 

“With a clear focus, Ola has reassessed its priorities and decided to shut down the quick commerce business. Ola Cars infra, technology, and capabilities will be repurposed towards growing Ola Electric’s sales and service network,” the company had said.