The 'BET' vs 'OATS' EV battle plays out on Twitter

New Delhi: The battle between legacy automakers and EV startups has just taken a new twist. Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj, during the launch of the new Bajaj Pulsar, took a dig at EV startups and coined new terms such as 'BET' and 'OATS'.

Talking about the future of electric vehicles, Bajaj said that he puts his trust in 'BET' (Bajaj, Enfield and TVS).

He called the incumbents 'champions', because they have a proven track record.


“Because they are champions, they have a track record — there are two things which are very clear. Champions eat OATS for breakfast — Ola, Ather, Tork and SmartE. ‘Picture abhi baaki hai,’ I will say,” he said.

In a sporting response, electric scooter maker Ather Energy’s cofounder, Tarun Mehta, tweeted: “Must say, the OATS and BET acronyms by Rajiv Bajaj made my day today. Never a dull moment in this industry.”


Over the past few years, several startups have emerged in the electric two-wheeler space. EV startups such as Ather Energy, Torq, SmartE have been dominating the electric two-wheeler space.


Among these startups, Ola has made the biggest noise with a promising massive scale of up to 10 million units a year. Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal has regularly criticised legacy automakers for not doing enough to accelerate the shift to electric mobility.