Ola Electric's electric scooter sales declined 12% sequentially in April and May 2026, with market share falling to 28% — down from a peak of 52% in late 2022 — as intensifying competition from TVS Motor's iQube, Bajaj's Chetak and Chetak Premium, Honda's Activa Electric and new entrants took a meaningful bite out of the company's previously dominant market position. The sales pressure comes at an inopportune time as Ola prepares for expansion into the electric motorcycle segment (with the Roadster X and Roadster Pro already launched) and is simultaneously dealing with the transition of its manufacturing operations from its original Futurefactory phase 1 to the more automated and higher-capacity phase 2 expansion in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu.
The service quality issue has been the most significant headwind to Ola Electric's market position. Consumer complaints about long wait times at service centers, difficulty scheduling appointments and unresolved warranty claims have been widely reported on social media platforms and have damaged the brand's net promoter score significantly. SEBI filings by Ola Electric have disclosed a service center network of approximately 800 touchpoints — substantially below the 1,200 Ola had targeted — and the gap between product sales and after-sales service infrastructure has created a substantial backlog of dissatisfied customers who become vocal detractors rather than brand advocates. Management has acknowledged the service quality challenge and committed Rs 800 crore to service center expansion and technician training over FY27.
The competitive landscape has shifted dramatically over 18 months. TVS iQube, which started as a low-volume premium product, has grown to 28,000 units per month through aggressive pricing and the unbeatable advantage of TVS's pan-India service network of over 8,000 dealers. Bajaj Chetak, initially a relatively expensive retro-styled scooter, has been repositioned as a mass-market product with the Chetak 2903 and 3202 variants priced competitively to challenge Ola in the high-volume sub-Rs 1 lakh segment. Honda's Activa Electric, launched with the backing of the world's largest two-wheeler company, achieved 15,000 monthly sales within three months of launch purely on brand trust — a testament to the power of established distribution and trust in the two-wheeler category.
Ola's pivot to motorcycles through the Roadster series is a strategic bet on differentiating through performance and innovation rather than fighting purely on price in the scooter segment where competition has made margin pressure severe. The Roadster X at Rs 74,999 and Roadster Pro at Rs 1,04,999 are priced to compete with the Hero Surge and Bajaj's upcoming electric motorcycles while offering superior performance specifications — 0-40 km/h in 2.8 seconds and a claimed 200 km range for the Pro variant. However, actual sales of the Roadster series have been modest so far, with the motorcycle category being more brand and heritage-sensitive than scooters, making it harder for a startup to challenge established names like Royal Enfield, Hero and Bajaj.
The financial pressures on Ola Electric are considerable. The company has been burning cash as it invests in manufacturing scale-up, product development for new categories, service network expansion and marketing in a highly competitive market. The founder Bhavish Aggarwal has been selling Ola Electric shares periodically, which has created some investor concern about alignment of incentives, though management has maintained that these are pre-planned structured sales unrelated to company performance. Ola's path to profitability hinges on achieving scale in both the scooter and motorcycle categories simultaneously while reducing per-unit manufacturing costs through automation and localised battery cell sourcing — an ambitious multi-year journey in which execution consistency will be the decisive variable.
