Ola Founder Aims to Produce Made-In-India Electric Car by 2024

Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder of India's top ride-hailing startup and then moved into producing electric scooters, is growing his business empire once more, announcing plans to enter the electric-car market on Monday, competing with local titans like Tata Group and global automakers ranging from Hyundai Motor Co. to Tesla Inc.

The 36-year-old entrepreneur stated that Ola plans to debut its first electric car with a 500-kilometer range in the summer of 2024. It intends to manufacture its own lithium-ion batteries, lowering costs through local production. The objective is to develop a road toward self-sufficiency in critical technology and then produce an electric car built in India.

The futuristic-looking car will be part of Aggarwal's Ola Electric Mobility Pvt. His former company, ANI Technologies Pvt., operates the Ola ride-hailing service.

Aggarwal, whose investors include SoftBank Group Corp. and Tiger Global Management, unveiled the vehicle on the same day India celebrated 75 years of freedom from British rule, and precisely a year after Ola debuted its electric two-wheel scooter.

According to local media, Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd., part of a historic Indian conglomerate, plans to introduce a series of its own EVs on the same day, indicating how congested the industry has gotten.

Before the reveal on Monday, Aggarwal has been tweeting teaser videos showing a red automobile with only its back wheels visible, as well as cheeky Bollywood movie one-liners.

Ola is forging ahead with aspirations to gain "a place at the global EV table," according to Aggarwal. He launched what was described as the world's largest electric-scooter manufacturing last year, some three hours from the company's headquarters in Bangalore. The idea was to produce around two million scooters per year, but supply delays, quality concerns, and, in some cases, scooters catching fire have all hampered progress.

Traditional combustion-engine scooters and motorbikes continue to be the most popular means of personal transportation in India, dominating the country's highways. However, in recent years, the government has pushed for steps to improve urban air quality and reduce reliance on oil imports by increasing EV sales through reduced taxes and duty exemptions. According to the government's India Brand Equity Foundation, 0.32 million such vehicles were sold in 2021, representing a 168% increase year on year.

According to the foundation, India is expected to become the world's third-largest car market by 2030, and the government has set lofty electrification targets for that time period.