App-based taxi service Ola could soon be dubbed the Indian Tesla as the company has set up a global manufacturing hub for electric motorcycles in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
One of India’s largest startups, Ola plans to manufacture 10 million electric two-wheelers per year from this facility, according to reports.
Elon Musk’s Tesla, Inc, is an American electric vehicle and clean energy company that is based in Palo Alto, California. The company has a wide range of products including electric cars, battery energy storage from home to grid-scale, solar panels, and solar roof tiles.
Within a short span of time, Tesla has established itself as a leading player in the e-mobility space alongside China’s Shanghai-headquartered NIO.
Now, the Bengaluru-headquartered Ola is set to join the race with an investment of Rs 24 billion ($332 million), Nikkei Asia reported.
“(The factory will serve as) the company’s global manufacturing hub for its range of electric-powered scooters and two-wheelers [for] across India and international markets including Europe, UK, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand,” said Ola in a statement.
Founded in 2010 as an online cab aggregator, Ola currently provides services in over 250 cities across the world through a wide range of vehicles ranging from bikes, auto-rickshaws, metered taxis, and cabs.
The company, which is backed by Japan’s SoftBank Group, has more than 2.5 million driver-partners and along with America’s Uber, forms an integral part of India’s taxi-service sector.
According to Hurun Global Unicorns 2020 index, Ola was valued at $6 billion and ranked fourth after Paytm, Oyo, and Byju’s.
As per reports, Ola will finish the phase stage of the Future Factory by June this year, however, the entire facility is expected to be completed by 2022.
The facility, which will have a production capacity of 2 million units a year, will be built on a 202-hectare site in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu. It will have 10 production lines and will roll out a scooter every two seconds at full capacity.
According to Ola, the effort is a contribution to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India), in addition to supporting the country’s sustainability goals.
“(Our) plans are big, bold, and global with an aim to be the world’s leading tech-driven sustainable mobility company. It is transformational, instead of being incremental. It is global, instead of just India. It is massive scale, instead of playing on the margins,” according to the company.
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