Ola Electric to launch electric three-wheelers in India

Ola Electric, India's largest electric two-wheeler manufacturer, has announced it will enter the electric three-wheeler market. The company plans to introduce its first electric three-wheeler several months after it starts selling its first electric motorcycle in January 2025.

ola electric storefront with ola s1 — Image: Ola

During Ola Electric’s Q2 FY2025 results conference call, Founder and Chairman Bhavish Aggarwal revealed the company plans to launch 20 products over the next two years. It will not introduce 20 different EVs, though, offering multiple versions of the same model with styling and performance differences in some cases.

By broadening its portfolio by 2026, Ola Electric will enter a new category – three-wheelers, Aggarwal confirmed during the results conference call. “Yes, we are building three-wheelers,” he said, acknowledging the speculations in the media were true. The company will leverage its existing high-volume electric two-wheeler components, which should allow it to save significantly on development and production costs and launch the electric three-wheelers at more attractive prices.

Ola Electric will use the same electronics, battery architecture, and powertrains for the electric three-wheelers as its S1 series of electric scooters, which it currently sells in X, Air, and Pro versions and plans to offer in a new ‘Sports’ variant also in the future. That is the beauty of these electric three-wheelers, Aggarwal said.

Aggarwal showed two electric three-wheelers in the product pipeline in his presentation for the Q2 FY2025 results conference call. Apparently, Ola Electric plans to launch an autorickshaw in the second half of 2025 and a cargo model in the second half of 2026. The company would use a similar design language for both models. It is testing the passenger model in Bengaluru (Karnataka), where it has its headquarters, and local media claim it will launch this model as the ‘Raahi,’ which means “traveller” in Hindi.

Ola Electric’s business is thriving thanks to a boom in India’s electric two-wheeler market in recent years. From just 20,948 electric scooters in FY2022 (April 2021-March 2022), the company grew to a whopping 156,251 units in FY2023 (April 2022-March 2023). In FY2024, it registered more than double the previous volume – 329,618 units. It has yet to become profitable, though, and it is facing problems with quality control and service backlog as well, which it needs to deal with on priority before going bullish with new products.

olaelectric.com (earnings call; 8:29-8:57), nsearchives.nseindia.com (presentation; PDF), indiatimes.com