Ola Electric Delays its Delivery of Electric Scooters
Ola Electric has announced the delay in delivering its first batch of its electric scooters to between December 15 to the end of the month, a two- to four-week delay from its earlier schedule, due to a shortage of chipsets and electronic parts.
The first batch of deliveries was scheduled for November 30 but the company decided to delay them after a meeting between its factory team and the global supply chain.
“There is a problem and the situation is evolving. But I think we are better off than others because we had planned for the shortage so the impact is not that pronounced,” said Varun Dubey, Ola Electric’s Chief Marketing Officer.
It became clear that the late delivery of chips and electronic parts was only getting worse.
Ola has apologized to customers for the delay and said it is “ramping up production as fast as we can so that you can get your Ola S1 at the earliest”.
It has stopped taking any new bookings until the chip shortage has eased, according to the sources.
The shortage has hit vehicle manufacturers across the globe.
Qualcomm has a tie-up to provide Ola Electric with the key 4G-connected octa-core android platform that provides connectivity and computing capabilities. Qualcomm gets its chips manufactured by third-party players.
Last month, Qualcomm India President Rajen Vagadiab had said that while his company was trying to bring about some normalization by April 2022 for all its customers, though some industries such as automobiles might feel the pinch a little longer.
The dependence on chips in powering an electric vehicle can be gauged from the fact that industry estimates say that a two-wheeler requires about 15-20 microchips and sensors while cars need between 150-200.
Ola started bookings on September 15 and announced it had done sales worth Rs 600 crore on the first day, hitting Rs 1,100 crore on the second.
Earlier, in the second week of July, it had offered consumers the chance to reserve (before booking) the scooter for only Rs 499. While test rides for customers who have booked have begun, the deliveries are still awaited.
