The ride-hailing company Ola Electric Mobility Pvt. Ltd is entering into electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing and retailing. Ola Electric is building the world’s largest e-scooter factory on a 500-acre land in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. The land will include 260-acre land for the production unit and 240-acre land for two supplier parks.
In December, Ola signed a pact with the Tamil Nadu government to invest Rs 2400 crore in the factory. In February 2020, Ola started construction at the site. The mega factory, called the Future Factory, will have four phases. The first phase will be ready in June 2021 and will produce 2 million e-scooters. While all four phases will be ready by June 2022, producing around 10 million e-scooters annually. With this production capacity, Ola will become the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer.
The factory will have ten assembly lines, 3000 robots to automate several processes and will employ nearly 10,000 workers.
The e-scooters will have stunning design, two removable batteries and high performance. Ola has not yet disclosed the price of the e-scooters, but the estimated price will be Rs 1- 1.35 lakhs. Ola is also working with power utility companies to build charging stations and swapping stations for e-scooters in India.
Ola will have to face competition from local electric two-wheeler manufacturers like Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp. Hero MotoCorp is the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer and produces more than 6 million two-wheelers every year in India.
Ola Group CEO and Chairman Bhavish Aggarwal said, “Most companies building EVs in India are not at scale. We are building products that consumers will aspire for and will be built on principles of sustainability, automation, and efficiency. The concept is of a mega factory, which will be the world’s largest two-wheeler factory, not just in electric.”
He also added that Ola will build a separate unit to manufacture electric motorcycles and four-wheelers in the future.
Started in 2017, the Bengaluru-based Ola Electric is a subsidiary of ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd which operates the ride-hailing company Ola. Last year, Ola Electric acquired an electric scooter startup in Amsterdam, Etergo BV.
In the last few years, Ola has witnessed several top executives exits. Ola hired Jose Pinheiro, former General Motors executive, as head of global manufacturing and operations for its electric business in December. Jose Pinheiro has 14 years of experience in manufacturing which will help Old deliver a wide range of two-wheeler products.
Ola is entering the electric vehicle market at a time when the Indian government is promoting the manufacturing of electric vehicles and batteries. The government plans to make India a 100% electric-vehicle nation by 2030.
