Ola has started building its mega factory to manufacture e-scooters on a 500 acre land in Tamil Nadu with an initial investment of Rs 2,400 crore.
Ola is in a hurry to lead the electric vehicle (EV) race in India! It has already started building its first e-scooter manufacturing factory in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district. It plans to roll out e-scooters in the market by June, 2021. As per Ola Group CEO and chairman Bhavish Aggarwal, it aims to roll out electric cars as well in the future.
The Phase 1 of the factory will be completed by June, 2021 on the 500 acre site with an annual capacity of 2 million electric vehicles. Ola has planned to complete the manufacturing facility in 4 phases and it will be completed by June 2022. After the completion of 4th phase, Ola will have the capacity to manufacture 10 million EVs annually.
This will make Ola the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer with a global market share of 15%. After manufacturing scooters and motorbikes, Ola will advance towards manufacturing 4-wheelers. However, details of electric car manufacturing are under the wraps right now.
Apart from pitching the e-scooter to retail market, Ola will also add some vehicles to its own fleet. Ola will focus more on direct-to-consumer model via digital sales. However, it will also partner with dealers all over India to sell its two-wheelers.
Ola has partnered with investors including Hyundai and Kia for supply chain, manufacturing, and go-to-market partnerships. Apart from selling the vehicles in India, Ola is also eyeing multiple international markets for its offerings.
In December, 2020 Ola signed an MoU of Rs 2400 crore with the Tamil Nadu government and the construction on the 500 acre site began in February. Ola will be designing and engineering the motor, battery pack, and vehicle software. It will also manufacture the batter-pack in-house and all the suppliers will be co-located within the premises. However, it will have to import lithium-ion cells from Korea and other international markets.
The mega factory will be armed with 10 lines, 3000 robots, and will also employ 10,000 workers. With its massive, Ola factor will be able to send 1 scooter to the market every 2 seconds.
Ola is also planning to build a robust network of charging stations and is also doing R&D on battery swapping network. The two-wheelers will come equipped with 2 batteries that you can charge within 1 hour. However, pricing and range of the e-scooter is not disclosed yet.
After, Tesla, Ola would be the second EV manufacturer to make electric vehicles at such a large scale.
