Electric vehicle (EV) company Ola Electric on Wednesday said it will expand its existing network of experience centres to 500 by March 2023 as it looks to improve its presence across the country.
The EV-maker already has over 200 such centres operational in major cities in the country, the company said in a statement. Now, it wants to penetrate further into smaller cities, as it seeks to acquire new customers and drive demand, further making purchasing experience and financing options easier.
“The introduction of these physical touch points across the country have brought us much closer to our consumers than ever before,” said Anshul Khandelwal, chief marketing officer, Ola Electric.
The experience centres allow the consumers to experience the company’s electric two-wheelers, gather information and seek assistance in buying them, including financing options. Currently, the company claims that about 80% of the company's customers live within 20 km radius of its experience centre.
Ola Electric also provides test rides for its customers through these centres and later post-sale care and maintenance too.
“These company owned and operated centres act as a great platform for us to delve deeper into the minds of our customers,” said Khandelwal.
Last week, the company announced the launch of new models in its S1 portfolio, expanding to 6 models foraying into lower-price point segments. The deliveries for the new variants are set to begin from March 2023. The launch comes amidst safety concerns of its scooters.
Last month, a person using an Ola scooter met with an accident due to an alleged faulty front suspension , which the firm defended, saying it was a case of a very high impact road accident. This follows an incident where a scooter caught fire last year, causing severe injuries to the victim. The company has been at the receiving end of criticism due to these incidents
Despite the concerns, Bhavish Aggarwal’s Ola has already sold about 1.5 lakh EVs in 2022.
The electric 2-wheeler market is growing and evolving very fast with several competitors such as Ather, Ola Electric, Bajaj Auto, Revolt Motor, Hero Electric, TVS Motor, Okinawa and Ampere, besides several other small players. India’s largest 2-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp also plans to enter the space later this year.
