Ola S1 Pro electric scooter sales to beat Honda Activa? Bhavish Aggarwal predicts future of EV

Currently, Honda Activa is the best-selling scooter in India and recorded a sale of over 2 lakh units in November 2022, while Ola Electric's sales numbers are still within 5 figures.

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Ola Electric has been leading the premium electric scooter segment with its sales. The electric vehicle manufacturer has maintained the sale of 20,000 units for three consecutive months, including November 2022. With this in mind, Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has exhibited confidence that Ola S1 will become the best-selling in August 2023. The electric vehicle manufacturer went as far as claiming that the sales of the electric 2-wheeler will be even higher than the best-selling ICE scooter in the market. In other words, Ola S1 will dethrone Honda Activa to be the best-seller in India.

In his tweet, Bhavish Aggarwal said, "Projection - The Ola S1 (including all variants) will become the best-selling scooter in India by August 2023, higher than the best-selling ICE scooter!" This is not the first Ola has made such a claim. They have previously made such claims and have been able to live up to them. However, this time the company has picked a bigger challenge than it might have ever faced.

Ola Electric might be preparing to achieve the milestone on the ground level. The company has started ramping up the production of its electric scooter. However, the target is massive; to add context, Honda Activa sold 2.45 lakh units in September 2022. In the same month, Ola Electric sold 9,649 units. 

Projection - The Ola S1 (including all variants) will become the best selling scooter in India by August 2023, higher than the best selling ICE scooter!

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) December 9, 2022

Even with the seemingly impossible target, there are some factors that might tip the scale in Ola's favour. For instance, the government has policies favouring electric vehicles, like the subsidy provided for EV buyers. Adding to it, the price of the cheapest variant of Ola S1 is significantly less compared to Honda Activa.

Furthermore, Honda has plans to enter the EV market with swappable battery technology. This might shift the focus and resources of the Japanese automaker towards EVs, reducing the focus on ICE vehicles. Moreover, the Japanese automaker would be entering a market where Ola has already established itself and has plans to strengthen its roots.