This upcoming commercial scooter from Ola Electric might very well be the first from the company to feature swappable batteries
The electric mobility onslaught in India is currently the heaviest in e-scooter space. This particular segment has seen unprecedented growth. Driving this growth force is electric mobility startup based out of Bengaluru, Ola Electric. The company’s upcoming product will target commercial segment that is also showing faster adoption rates.
Ola Patents New Scooter For Commercial Segment
Commercial segment may be uncharted waters for Ola Electric. However, Ola has showcased impressive product planning and product packaging capabilities in the past that appealed to masses. The company must have thoroughly studied target demographic including last mile delivery, B2B customers, and delivery partners among others.
Convenient large fleet management and ownership are also important for this demographic. Ola patents new scooter to target these audiences. As opposed to the flamboyant and feature-packed electric scooters for PV segment, this new scooter patented by Ola looks very bare bones.
This is a small and compact electric scooter that is designed for urban use for various commercial applications. One look at this scooter and we can grasp that it is built to a cost. It has a simple tubular chassis with two down tubes coming out of its triple tree. Handlebar is pretty simple too.
In the centre, there is a small instrument cluster that is highly likely to be an LCD unit to show speed, odo, trip, time, range, battery level and more. Front apron is very simple and plain and nothing extraordinary. There seem to be twin telescopic front forks. But there might be a single fork setup too, considering Ola’s past offerings.
Specs and features
Headlight seems to be a sleek horizontal unit located at front apron. Usually with vehicles like these, battery is under the floorboard to maximise cargo area and increase underseat storage. But this particular scooter from Ola seems to have a battery or batteries under the seat. This leaves more space and a flatter platform on the floorboard to carry cargo.
Considering Ola is taking an effort to offer batteries under the seat, these might very well be swappable batteries too. As these swappable batteries don’t get sealed connection points, they are concealed (usually situated under the seat) for weatherproofing. If true, this will be the first swappable battery tech for Ola Electric. Maybe a twin battery setup too.
And it makes perfect sense for commercial segment too, minimising downtime that is usually wasted in charging. Other notable attributes on this scooter include a single-piece seat and a reasonably large luggage rack for added cargo. Wheels may be 10-inches and get high-profile tubeless tyres. Battery could be around 3 kWh in total, good for a real-world range of around 150 km. Performance will be mild, owing to its applications and a rear hub motor is possible.