Ola Electric to charge up capacity to 4 mn; may roll out e-cars from 2024
Ola Electric has announced last Monday that it is set to launch its first electric car by 2024.
The company, which had trouble with deliveries of its electric scooters after making its exact one-year debut into the market, has set an ambitious goal of selling 10 lakh electric cars by 2026–2027. Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal stated during a press conference that Ola Electric plans to deliver electric two-wheelers to electric cars that are priced between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50 lakh.
“We have a detailed road map for the car space in the works… Cars in the entry-level market will undoubtedly be available. When asked about the company’s intentions for electric automobiles, the executive responded, “We’re starting with a premium car and that comes out in 18 to 24 months.
He continued, “We anticipate that across all of the goods (that) we will deploy, we will target a million cars per year by volume by 2026 or 2027.”
However, Aggarwal did share any details regarding the number of electric vehicle models the company would provide by 2026–2027. According to him, Ola’s first electric car would be able to accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in less than four seconds and have a range of more than 500 kilometers.
Regarding the justification for releasing a high-end electric car, he stated, “Global automakers believe that the Indian market is not ready for world-class technology and as a result sell their second-rate tech in India. We must now alter this. We deserve a vehicle that personifies this brand-new India, one that exudes courage and believes in forging its path.
According to Aggarwal, Ola Electric has been working to establish an electric car ecosystem at its “Future Factory” in the Tamil Nadu region of Krishnagiri. He said that the plant “would manufacture a million automobiles, 10 million two-wheelers, and 100-gigawatt hours of cells every year” when operating at full capacity. He continued, “We have a large team of 200 members currently and we will grow the team to about 1,000 employees next year.” The company is also expanding its workforce for its battery cell research, he said.
Aggarwal responded, “We’re closing in on 1,000 employees, all working on the new goods,” when asked about hiring advice for the electric car project. In addition, Ola Electric, which had halted the manufacture of its S1 electric scooter in January of this year, announced the start of sales of the same product starting on September 7.”
The S1 has improved software and a 3 KWh Lithium-ion battery pack with a range of 90 to 128 km on a single charge, depending on drive mode. It is available for Rs 99,999. The company, which entered the green mobility market in August of last year with the release of its electric scooters S1 and S1 Pro priced at Rs 99,999 and Rs 1,29,999, respectively, had delayed delivery dates for its eagerly awaited products claiming worldwide semiconductor scarcity issue.
The company began the online purchasing procedure in September after opening reservations for its electric scooters S1 Pro and S1 at Rs 499 in July of last year. It had originally intended for deliveries to begin in October, but this was then postponed to November and then again to the second half of December.
Clients were informed by the company in January of this year that it will prioritize the creation of the S1 Pro model, with S1 manufacturing being delayed until late 2022, according to the CEO of the company, who also stated that it is upgrading all of its S1 customers to S1 Pro hardware.
Customers were uneasy about the company’s electric scooters catching fire in addition to delivery delays. Following a fire incident in April of this year, Ola Electric had to recall 1,441 of its electric two-wheelers.