World`s largest E-Scooter factory to be set on 500-Acre Bengaluru Campus
Bhavish Aggarwal, the Ola founder has surveyed a 500-acre area and hopes to start the world`s largest electric scooter plant at the plot that is in Banglore.
He has visualized a $330 million mega-factory at the spot and Ola Electric is getting into an electric market.
The Ola Electric Mobility Pvt will make 10 million vehicles annually by summer 2022. After the plant expands, one scooter will be rolling out every two seconds.
Under Prime Minister`s Make in India, the making of electric cars is the first step.
“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 said.
India is pushing electric vehicles and self-reliance that could earn a $206 billion EV market in 10 years.
Middle class Indians are worried about air quality. The competition is among Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto and the upcoming brands such as Ather Energy and Chinese brands including Niu Technologies.
He is inspired from Tesla, Nio and Xpeng Inc. He wants to sell two-three-four vehicles that everyone can afford.
“Our ambition is to build the world’s leading urban mobility EV company,” he said.
A decade ago, he also took Uber Technologies to 200 cities before taking it to UK, Australia and New Zealand.
The EV startup was started in 2017. It became a billion-dollar company after SoftBank Group Corp. and Tiger Global Management put in hundreds of millions.
This time he has secured capital from Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp.
“We’re very well-capitalized and investor interest is unprecedented,” said Aggarwal.
Aggarwal wants to introduce five two-wheelers and wants to get the first electric car on road in 18 to 24 months.
On Thursday, he used a smooth scooter in the office park in the Koramangala neighborhood, the epicenter of Bangalore’s startup scene.
He showed novel lighting, removable batteries and a large storage trunk. His plan is to sell the scooters digitally as well as through dealerships, offering monthly payment plans to make it easier on buyers’ pockets.