The high-profile Ola founder, Bhavish Aggarwal is planning to erect the world’s largest electric scooter plant on a vacant plot in Bangalore’s outskirts, as per the reports.
Mega Plant In Bangalore
Aggarwal plans to complete this plant, which is going to be a landmark for one of India’s largest startups within the next 12 weeks, cranking out about 2 million a year.
The place is a two-and-a-half-hour drive southeast of Bangalore.
With this move, Aggarwal envisioned a $330 million mega-factory’s bold foray into uncharted territory for him.
Prior to this, the entrepreneur has spent 10 years building a ride-hailing giant.
In addition to this, Ola Electric is getting into an electric vehicle market, already crowded by names from Tesla Inc.
Huge Plans For Future
It might look like a humble two-wheeler initially, just imagine that it could play in a $200 billion domestic EV industry in a decade.
If things go according to plan, the Ola Electric Mobility Pvt hopes to make 10 million vehicles annually.
Or you can say, they are going to make 15% of the world’s e-scooters by the summer of 2022 and starting with sales abroad later this year.
In simple words, there would be one scooter rolling out every two seconds after the plant expands next year.
Assembly Line For Electric Cars
This seems to be the first step in Aggarwal’s goal as he eventually plans to assemble a full line-up of electric cars.
It would be a great boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India and sustainable mobility ambitions.
Last week, in an interview, Aggarwal said, “It’s a vehicle we’ve engineered ground-up so India can get a seat at the world EV table,”.
Indian companies “have the smarts and energy to leapfrog into the future of EV,” he further added.
EV Future In India
So far, fume-spewing scooters and motorcycles remain the most popular mode of transport in India.
However, now the country is pushing electric vehicles and self-reliance in battery technologies.
It could underpin a $206 billion EV market in 10 years, according to the think-tank CEEW Centre for Energy Finance.
But, it won’t be easy although there is a shift that can be seen in middle-class Indians, as they worry about air quality but are reluctant.
Since the current rates are almost twice the price of a regular scooter for an electric version.
Agrawal wants to sell affordable two, three- and four-wheelers for urban rides.
While talking about his passion, he said, “Our ambition is to build the world’s leading urban mobility EV company,”.