To gain a foothold in India’s developing EV market, Ola Electric’s CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal, announced on Monday that the company would be introducing an all-electric vehicle capable of achieving 100 kilometers per hour (just over 62 mph) in under five seconds.
Ola Electric is the EV division of ride-hailing company Ola and was founded in 2011. SoftBank Group has made investments in both Ola and Ola Electric.
Aggarwal provided a number of details about the first electric car to be made in India in a video presentation while addressing the media at the Ola campus in Bengaluru, “There will be multi-billion dollar investment flowing into the e-cars business over a few years.”
He claimed that it would have an all-glass roof, a range of more than 500 kilometers on a single charge, and the ability to provide assisted driving. The electric vehicle would also lack a handle and a key. In 2024, the company intends to introduce the car.
He also said that foreign automakers sell their second-rate technology in India because they believe the Indian market is not ready for cutting-edge technology. He continued that this needed to be changed.
Additionally, Aggarwal disclosed plans on Monday to expand the company’s “Futurefactory” in Tamil Nadu, which presently specializes in producing two-wheel electric vehicles, creating what he described as a “full-EV hub.”
The Ola CEO also added that Ola intends to create two vehicle platforms and six distinct car models, all of which will be produced at its Giga factory in Tamil Nadu once it has expanded.
He claimed the expanded facility could produce 1 million cars, 10 million two-wheelers, and 100-gigawatt hours of cells annually when operating at total capacity. Aggarwal states, “This reimagined Ola Futurefactory will be the world’s largest EV ecosystem at a single site.”
According to the International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook, less than 0.5% of cars sold in Brazil, India, and Indonesia are electric.
India is somewhat of an untapped market for electric cars, trailing behind China, the European Union, and the United States despite being on track to overtake China as the world’s most populous nation next year.
With its entry into the Indian market for electric vehicles, Ola will face competition from companies like Mahindra Electric Mobility and Tata Motors. According to the IEA, the Tata Nexon BEV SUV was India’s best-selling electric vehicle in 2021.
