Why Ola Electric should be more transparent with deliveries

Ola Electric started selling its electric scooters Ola S1 and Ola S1 Pro on December 15, after almost a delay of two months from the original plan. The electric vehicle company is definitely facing teething issues in terms of both delayed deliveries and even some faulty products. Some of the issues can be attributed to its new sales model where the company completely avoids the hassle of dealerships. Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal recently shared data that it had shipped all the vehicles it sold in the first phase. However, data from Vahan suggests otherwise.

Vinkesh Gulati, President at Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations, shared his views on Ola’s new system of deliveries. In a recent tweet, he shared data from Vahan database which showed that only 111 Ola S1 and Ola S1 Pro scooters were delivered on the last day of the year. While the Vahan data has been revised, it is not even close to the 4000 figure that was shared by the company.

Bhavish Aggarwal, on the last day of 2021, announced that all the scooters purchased in the first phase of the sale were dispatched to the buyer. However, not all scooters had been delivered. According to the company, the process of registration could take time owing to the new model where the vehicle is being directly handed over the buyer, instead of going through a dealer.

In his tweet, he said, “Update on December deliveries: we’ve dispatched vehicles to ALL who purchased. Some in transit, most already at delivery centres near you getting through RTO registration process. The registration process took longer than we anticipated as a fully digital process is new for all.”

Gulati claims that while he doesn’t really stand against Ola’s new direct-to-consumer approach. However, he does believe that the disparity in the number of scooters shipped and the data shared by Vahan does not paint a clear picture. He told BGR.in in a statement, “FADA has always found that vehicle dispatch is not the right data to understand the product acceptance or market share. It has to be delivered to the customer. If you put 4000 vehicles on the truck it doesn’t mean the customer has got it. Currently, all India dealers might have up to 20 lakh vehicles in their inventory but can you say these vehicles are sold vehicles?”

Ola on the other hand has been reporting positive customer feedback, claiming that buyers are loving the doorstep delivery of their product. Arun Sirdeshmukh, Chief Business Officer, Ola Electric said, Ownership feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and customers absolutely love the product, the doorstep delivery as well as the industry first ‘service at home’ experience which allows us to address and resolve any issue or query swiftly at their doorstep. Every customer is important to us and while we have received overwhelmingly positive feedback. We have reimagined not only the product experience with our S1 but also the ownership experience with our industry-first direct-to-customer approach, with every customer having a dedicated brand champion to ensure we are always close to our customer as we scale up our deliveries across the country”.

While many buyers have shared positive opinions about the delivery experience of the scooter, there are others who detailed bad experiences with the company. Ola has witnessed the first-mover advantage in the electric space by attracting a lot of potential buyers, but there’s more ground to be covered. The year 2022 is critical for Ola Electric and staying more transparent will provided the credibility it needs as an automobile manufacturer.

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