Ola Electric has begun actively scouting for land for its ambitious electric car project and is in talks with 6 state governments including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana and Gujarat. The company is looking to acquire 1000 acres of land and the total project is worth an estimated INR 10,000 crore.
After setting up its 10 million unit two wheeler factory in Tamil Nadu in record time of under 2 years, Ola’s electric car factory would have to be ready in a year’s time as the company is looking at launching its maiden car by end of next year. Additionally, Ola is also looking for land for its lithium ion cell manufacturing and it could get a separate location.
“The R&D process with the car has been ongoing for about 6-8 months within Ola. In about two years from now, we will be ready with it,” Ola Electric CEOI Bhavish Aggarwal had said last month. “The sub INR 10 lakh category is absolutely relevant for India and globally there are some examples of products doing well in this segment especially in China. We are definitely focussed on that segment but whether we do it first or later, we have not decided yet.”
“Our focus is not just about India, but in ASEAN, Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern and even parts of Western Europe, the kind of vehicles people buy are different. We want to electrify vehicles that the mass of the world uses–two wheelers, small cars, midsize cars. India is a very good microcosm of that, and a good representation of that market,” he added.
While talks with all the state governments are at an initial stage with no clear front runner, the interest from the Uttar Pradesh government is believed to be strong. Industry sources told ETAuto that the state has identified Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi constituency as the location for the factory. Outside of the NCR region, UP is considered a laggard in attracting investments in the manufacturing sector but the Yogi Adityanath administration has been trying hard to change the perception.
It is a template that has been successfully implemented by Gujarat when it bagged the Tata Nano project in 2009, which opened the floodgates for more companies to set up factories in the state. There is a big hindrance though. The eastern part of UP is far away from both, a port to enable exports, and an established ecosystem for manufacturing automobiles.
UP has identified Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi constituency as the location for the factory~
“We are in talks with the company and will extend whatever help they may need to set up the factory. It will be very beneficial for the state and generate employment for thousands of youth,” a UP government official told ETAuto. “Every state has its pros and cons. What we can offer here is strong leadership, governance, availability of manpower and a huge market.”
When contacted, an Ola Electric spokesperson refused to offer a comment.
Ola was one of the companies that qualified for the government’s PLI scheme for advanced cell chemistries with an allocation for 20 GWh.
“We will actually need more capacity. We are looking at 50 GWh overall. We will need land for that as well. It might come up with the car factory or in a separate location. It is too early to say for now,” a source at Ola said.
Unfazed by last month’s fire incident and the software glitches in its maiden scooter S1 pro, Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal is pressing ahead with plans to launch its first electric car by 2023 or early 2024. It will have advanced autonomous technologies to make it relevant for international markets and a sub INR 10 lakh price for India is not ruled out.
The company’s decision to enter the electric car space isn’t new as Bhavish Aggarwal had earlier stated that the company will work on electric four-wheelers and that their first car could be introduced in 2023. The tweet posted today has an image of a small hatchback electric car with the Ola logo at the front.
