Aim to make India core in global energy revolution: Ola Electric

In March 2021, Ola Electric founder Bhavish Aggarwal was seen surveying an empty 500-acre land surrounded by shoe factories, temples, bakery shops, coconut trees and dusty roads in Pochampalli town of Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu.

- PEERZADA ABRAR

Many excavators and workers were busy at the construction site to build the Ola Futurefactory for electric vehicles. Among them was Aggarwal, who like other workers was wearing safety boots, a hard hat, a reflective vest and sunglasses. Playing the Punjabi hip-hop song Satisfya, Aggarwal was testing a black prototype of Ola's electric scooter. A lot has changed since then.

The Ola Futurefactory has become the largest integrated and automated electric two-wheeler manufacturing plant in India.

The facility, built in eight months, achieved an installed capacity of one million units per year by October last year.

"There's a lot of opportunity to build the future of energy here in India. There are companies like Tesla which are doing a lot in the Western world. But the world can't achieve its sustainable aspiration without India building a sustainable future as the country is about 20 per cent of the world population," said Aggarwal.

He added, "Our vision at Ola Electric is to make India a core part of the global energy revolution. There is an opportunity for the whole industry. The solutions that need to be built for India are relevant for the Global South. Very few people buy luxury cars in this region. The opportunity is to accelerate the electric transition in India and become global leaders in this space."