The Ola Electric CEO, Bhavish Agarwal, said on Monday that his firm will launch an all-electric vehicle that can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour (just 62 mph) in four seconds, as India’s budding EV sector gets a foothold. The race has intensified.
In a video presentation, Bhavish Agarwal revealed several details about the Indian-made vehicle, which will be its first electric car. He said, this will have a range of 500 kilometers per charge (about 310 miles), an all-glass roof, and assisted driving capability. The EV will also be keyless and “handle-less”. The company plans to launch the vehicle in 2024.
“Global automakers think that the Indian market is not ready for world-class technology and, therefore, sell their hand-me-down technology in India,” he said. He said it needed to be changed.
On Monday, Agarwal announced plans to develop a “full-EV hub” by expanding the company’s “FutureFactory” in the state of Tamil Nadu, which currently focuses on producing two-wheeled electric vehicles.
On a full scale, he said the expanded facility would produce one million cars, 10 million two-wheelers, and 100 gigawatt-hours of cells every year. “This is going to make Ola Futurefactory the world’s largest EV ecosystem on a single site,” Agarwal said.
Ola Electric is the EV arm of ride-hailing firm Ola, which was established in 2011. Both Ola and Ola Electric have attracted investment from SoftBank Group.
India, which is on track to become the planet’s most populous country next year, is ahead of China, the European Union, and the US in terms of electric cars. “In Brazil, India, and Indonesia, less than 0.5% of car sales are electric,” notes the International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook.
Ola’s venture in India’s electric car market will rival Tata Motors and Mahindra Electric Mobility. According to the IEA, Tata’s Nexon BEV SUV was India’s best-selling electric car in 2021.
