The rivalry between EVs and ICEs dates back to the time when the very concept of electric vehicles was introduced. Over the years, the seed of this rivalry has grown into a big tree. From customers to brands, all are after one another in their pursuit to crown the victor of this war.
Very recently, during the release event of the Bajaj Pulsar 250 twins, the company MD, Rajiv Bajaj took to the mic to address the gathering. While his speech was more inclined towards the bitter-sweet memories of the company; answering a question related to EV startups in India, Mr. Bajaj gave a very witty statement, which indeed sparked a Twitter battle between the company and its electric counterparts. Rajiv Bajaj is known for not mincing his words and during his statement, he certainly didn’t mince any!
What did the man say?
Rajiv Bajaj said that the Indian two-wheeler market is dominated by the veteran brands; such as Bajaj, Royal Enfield, and TVS. He went on to use the acronym BET (Bajaj, Enfield, and TVS). Adding to that he said, “Champions eat OATS for breakfast”. He clarified that here OATS is an acronym for Ola Electric, Ather Energy, Tork, and SmartE (the next-gen EV brands in India).
Ather’s reply
Later that day, co-founder and CEO of Ather Energy, Tarun Mehta tweeted, “Must say, the OATS and BET acronyms by Rajiv Bajaj made my day today”.
Soon after that, the official Ather Energy Twitter account posted a picture of a packet of oats with Ather branding on it, alongside a caption, “Launching our new line of products for a quicker and smarter start to the day – OATS for champions recommended by experts.”
In the picture, we can see the line,” For when you need that instant pick-up”. This line very sarcastically points out the fact that electric scooters have a much better pickup and torque output.
Ola’s reply
The CEO of Ola, Bhavish Aggarwal also took to his tweeter account and re-tweeted a tweet that showed how Bajaj was the company that sold the least of units when it came to EVs. It said that Ola sold 90k scooters in one window even before a single scooter rolled out of the factory.
Ather sold 1,800 units in July itself and Bajaj stood last with only 3,300 units of Chetak (Bajaj’s E-Scooter) sold in a span of one and a half years.