Ola Electric has gone live with its first Hypercharger station for its upcoming electric scooters, the Ola S1 and S1 Pro, ahead of deliveries commencing in November. So far, the start-up has been relatively silent about the progress of the setting up of charging infrastructure for its maiden two-wheeler, but company CEO Bhavish Aggarwal shared details of Ola’s first fast-charging station after a return journey to the Ola Futurefactory.
The first Ola Electric Hypercharger has been inaugurated at the Ola Campus in Bengaluru, from where Aggarwal started his journey to the Futurefactory. The distance between the Ola Campus and the Futurefactory in Krishnagiri is roughly 126 kilometres, only slightly higher than the claimed range of the Ola S1 (121 km) ridden by Aggarwal. In a follow-up tweet, Aggarwal shared a clip of him plugging the S1 in to charge.
Previously, Ola has said its Hypercharger network will be “the widest and densest electric two-wheeler charging network in the world”, as the company plans to have over 100,000 charging points across 400 cities in the time to come. For now, Ola will set up over 5,000 charging points across 100 cities in India with an aim to double the existing charging infrastructure in the country.
With its own charging network, Ola Electric is also promising rapid charge times. Using the Hypercharger, owners of the Ola electric scooter will be able to recharge their scooters to 50 percent in a mere 18 minutes, which Ola says will provide a range of up to 75 kilometres.
Ola Electric’s standalone charging towers will feature automated multi-level parking. Image: Ola Electric
Ola has confirmed it will install its Hyperchargers across major cities in city centres, business complexes, stand-alone towers (with automated multi-level parking) as well as in malls, IT parks, cafes and more. A dedicated Ola Electric smartphone app will let owners monitor the scooter’s state of charge in real time, map routes that have Hyperchargers along the way and also pay for the charging online, eliminating the need to pay in cash or via card.
Ola Electric will provide a portable 750 W charger with the S1 and S1 Pro, and the company says fully charging the S1 at home will take about four hours and 48 minutes, while a full charge for the S1 Pro at home will six hours, 30 minutes.
Test rides of the Ola S1 and S1 Pro will commence on 10 November in select cities, with the first customer deliveries expected to begin in the second half of the month.