Okaya launches Freedum electric scooter with 250 km range, highest in India

Okaya has launched a new electric scooter in the Indian market. It is called the Freedum. Okaya is claiming a riding range of 250 km on a single charge which is the highest of any scooter that we have seen in the Indian market. The Freedum starts at Rs. 69,900 ex-showroom for the base variant but it does not get 250 km of range. You would have to step up to the higher variants to get the full 250 km of range. There will be four variants on offer and 12 colour options.

Okaya Freedum will be the first scooter to be manufactured at Okaya’s new manufacturing plant located in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. Now, Okaya has three electric scooters in its portfolio. They already have the AvionIQ series and the ClassicIQ series. Users would be able to get the Freedum with lead-acid batteries or lithium-ion batteries.

Okaya is using a 250-watt BLDC hub motor. The motor can provide a top speed of 25 kmph to the Freedum and the scooter has a riding range of 70-80 km. Okaya will be introducing a high-speed variant and a 250 km riding range variant. The 48-Volts 30 Ah lithium-ion battery version takes 4 to 5 hours to charge fully. The VRLA lead acid battery version on the other hand takes 8 to 10 hours.

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Freedum gets quite a bit of modern equipment as well. It comes with a digital instrument cluster, reversing mode for easily getting out of the parking spots, regenerative braking, wheel lock, anti-theft alarm, LED headlamps with LED Daytime Running Lamps and much more. Braking duties are handled by a disc in the front and a drum at the rear. Suspension duties are done by telescopic forks in the front and a single shock absorber at the rear.

Okaya is aiming to introduce 14 new products in the Indian market. There would be new B2B vehicles and even a high-speed motorcycle. Okaya already has 120 dealerships throughout the country and they are planning to add 800 more. Okaya Freedum will be going against Hero’s electric scooters, Bajaj Chetak, TVS iQube and Ola S1.

Ola sells Rs. 1,100 Crore of electric scooters

Ola Electric opened its sales window on 15th September and Ola says that they have sold electric scooters worth Rs. 1,100 Crores. Now, the purchase window will be opened on November 1st. People would first need to reserve their scooter by paying a refundable amount of Rs. 500 and then when the purchase window opens, they can pay Rs. 20,000 to book the scooter.

Ola has launched the S1 and S1 Pro. The S1 is priced at Rs. 99,999 while the S1 pro costs Rs. 1,29,999. You do get subsidies in some states which reduce the effective price of the scooter. The S1 has a top speed of 90 kmph while the S1 Pro has a top speed of 115 kmph. The riding range of both the scooters is different as well. The S1 delivers a claimed range of 121 km whereas the S1 Pro can deliver a claimed range of 181 km.

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