Ola Electric acquires Etergo, looks like we’ll see a version of the AppScooter some time next year
Etergo AppScooter:
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Ola electric to set up an electric scooter manufacturing plant with an annual capacity of 2 million units. They are currently in talks with different state governments (Karnataka, Tamilnadu, AP, and Maharashtra) for the plant. The facility is proposed to be established on a 100-acre land and is envisaged to be state-of-the-art, use solar energy, and have a zero-effluent footprint.
Good to see more models and electric vehicle factories being set up in the country. With Ather production to come up online soon, Bajaj’s 0.5 million plant and Ola electric’s 2 million plant, customers will have good choices and actual product availability for electric vehicles. Hopefully, these will come to fruition in the next 1-2 years as planned and forces the traditional companies like Hero, TVS, Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki to develop electric 2 wheelers.
Source:
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Ola Electric just announced that they will set up the world’s largest scooter factory with an annual capacity of 2 million units per year in Tamilnadu with an investment of Rs 2,400 crores. Ola plans to sell the electric scooters in Europe, Asia and Latin American markets in addition to India.
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Another update! This might come back to bite me, but can’t spot a Center stand 
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No Sir, you are not wrong! Ola scooter is just Etergo with an Ola branding slapped on it. And as far as I know, Etergo doesn’t have a center stand 
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Ola electric revealed the first images of the Ola branded scooter (Etergo Appscooter rebranded).
More details about the upcoming factory:
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Phase 1 of the factory to be completed by June 2021 and it will have a capacity of 2 million units annually. The factory will be built in four phases, and the company says this will be completed by June 2022, by when the company will have a capacity to make 10 million units annually.
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Ola will start with a two-wheeler, then go to motor-bikes, and eventually 4-wheelers.
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Ola will work with investors Hyundai and Kia for supply chain, manufacturing and go-to-market partnerships.
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Ola said it will design and engineer the battery pack, the motor, the vehicle computer and vehicle software. The company will be importing lithium-ion cell from markets such as Korea. The factory will have ten lines and will engage 3000 robots and have other automated features, while also employing 10,000 people. The factory will be able to push out one scooter every 2 seconds.
Scooter details:
- It will have 2 battery packs and can be charged in 1 hour.
- Battery packs will be manufactured in house while battery cells will be sourced from South Korea.
- Supplies of the scooter will be located on the premises of the factory and will contribute 90% of the value of the vehicle.
I feel the timelines are overly optimistic, but I am glad that they are going big. That is the only way to bring the prices down. I think they will aggressively price the scooter, otherwise there is no reason to setup 2 million unit capacity. Ola Electric CEO mentioned that it will be priced competitively with existing petrol scooters and earlier rumored pegged it at less than Rs 1 lakh. If its true then it will be a game changer for the Indian two wheeler market.
Ola is saying the scooter will have 2 battery packs. As per the Etergo appscooter specs, each module will have 1.15 kWh capacity means 2.3 kWh total capacity. I wonder if they increase the capacity of each pack or will provide an option with 3 packs.
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You could technically buy 2 more packs and carry them in your backpack - swap them when you run if of charge. However be prepared to part with a hefty sum for that
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I don’t think they will sell battery packs separately. As per Etergo appscooter design, there is already enough space for 3rd battery pack. Also, it weighs 7.5 kgs per pack. Our backs will be gone if we carry them in backpacks.
Some of the news reports mentioned that each battery pack will weigh ~10.5 kgs. But Etergo appscooter website says 7.5 kgs per pack. I think they have increased the capacity of each pack and made it 2 pack design instead of 3 small packs.
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People in high rises can save money on gyms. Carry 10kgs in each hand and walk up & down in the staircase - your workout is done.
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please look at the battery module, where do u think u r going to carry it?
Also the range they r claiming is 80km per module out of 3, if driven at 20kmph of constant speed. Simply unrealistic.
Some more details here-
1 Battery module is 1155wh or 1.155 kWh
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Range claims are done by Etergo not Ola. I doubt Ola is going to claim those absurd ranges in India. They will most likely advertise real-world range figures similar to Ather, Chetak and TVS. Earlier media reports indicated that it will have 100 km of range.
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Then why Ola is considering this scooter as base for their indian version model? Normally what companies do is just take up the base model which is already in the international market and tweak it in terms of material quality and other performance figures to make it cost effective, so what etergo is offering, ola model will be downgrade of that same model.
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We don’t know the official figures of the Indian model yet. Also, the international model is just a prototype and not released into markets there.
Also, the Indian variant need not be better than the international variant. It just needs to be better than the Indian competition at the same price or cheaper with similar specs.
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Seems difficult
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Not so difficult for a company like OLA they can spare some losses ( even ather as a startup had to bear losses initially till last year they are not a profitable company not sure by now) and can be aggressive on price.
The key is to capture the market and sales figures. So with such a huge production setup and given specs something under 1L is not impossible.
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My informed guess would be that they will launch 2 or 3 models with 1, 2 and 3 battery modules. They will have the single module version just to claim a low base model price of around 1 - 1.25 lakhs. The 2 module version will be priced around Ather’s point, and 3 modules (if they decide to launch one) might cross 2 lakhs.
In real world conditions, the range per module will likely be lower than Ather, so it would be a choice for the customer on if they are okay with a low range bike at an affordable rate, or they want a range that beats Ather, but shelling out slightly more than Ather.
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Etergo electric scooter top speed is 45 kph right sir…
If they price the base model with single module for 1-1.25 lakhs then they might as well stop the construction of such large factory right now. It will be even a bigger shock than 450x pricing.
Indian market is not big enough for premium scooters. Even in motorcycles, except Royal Enfield all others are niche players with very limited volumes. Premium scooters like Vespa, Aprilia volumes are ~50k per year.
Ather was selling 300 vehicles (450s) per month in 2 cities. Now they are selling ~600 vehicles (450x) per month even though they are available in 10+ cities. Again the reason for low numbers is the market is not ready for premium scooter in high volumes
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Check this image. I think same motor but power restricted through software. 1, 2, 3 modules based on speed and power
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To some extent, I agree. But what we often forget is that EVs will for the time being at least continue to be priced higher than comparable ICE 2W solely because the batteries continue to be the biggest cost driver. But there is hope! The way battery prices have dropped since 2010, I am certain that within the next 3-5 years, battery tech will improve significantly to make the 2W EV prices very competitive. Once we cross that critical point in the curve where ICE and EV prices are the same, then ICE will lose most of its current charm (and will be relegated to inter-city usage mostly).
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