The company had until recently ensured that it would start deliveries of its scooters later in November. This was just a month ahead of the delivery schedule, when Ola Electric indicated to potential buyers when it would open.
Two-day window for booking in mid-September,
“Due to the global shortage of chipsets and electronic parts, there are some unavoidable delays in your Ola S1 delivery,” Ola Electric said in an email to a customer. “We apologize for this delay and assure you that we are ramping up production as soon as possible so that you can get your Ola S1 as soon as possible.” ET has reviewed the copy of the email.
A spokesperson for Ola Electric confirmed that the company has informed customers about the delay in delivery, blaming it on global chip shortages, which has plagued several original equipment manufacturers in India as well as globally. Is.
The earliest delivery deadline for the S1 and S1 Pro will now be December 15-31, even as the company is promoting more of its vehicles, offering test rides in nine cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi .
Promises to expand test ride availability For customers in 1,000 cities till December 15.
Ola in its mail to customers said, “This is the biggest direct to consumer experience initiative ever in the history of Indian automotive retail. We aim to make test rides available to all customers at the earliest and are therefore prioritizing the allocation of scooters produced by us over the next few weeks to enable test rides in over 1000 cities across India.
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Two individuals, who paid over Rs 20,000 to book an Ola electric scooter, told ET that they did not believe the company would adhere to its revised delivery timeline.
One of the individuals said it was disappointing that the company would prioritize its limited supply to give test rides to potential buyers, who have paid it hard cash. Both the persons refused to go on record fearing cancellation of their booking or further delay.
Ola Electric had said it sold scooters worth Rs 1,100 crore in a span of two days, during which it started bookings in September. Even taking Rs 1,29,999 as the base cost – the ex-showroom price of the more expensive S1 Pro model excluding state subsidy – which translates to around 85,000 bookings for Ola’s scooters.
The company assures the customers that the amount paid for booking, or even the entire amount paid, is fully refundable until it actually delivers the vehicle.
Ola is also working to address bugs in the early production versions of its S1 and S1 Pro, with several people and publications reporting the scooters lacking the promised features, buggy software, overheating issues and a laggy throttle . The company has said that these issues will be fixed before the delivery starts.