India is currently booming in the electric mobility department and customers are looking for reliable, durable and quality products. With the need for affordable electric scooters and the price of petrol touching the INR 100 mark, the market is now observing a new trend shift from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric two-wheelers. The Government of India also supports the adoption of electric vehicles that not only save the environment but also reduce the country’s fuel import dependency. Now, world-leading internet-based cab-hailing aggregator, Ola Mobility will help with an electric mobility solution in the form of a premium electric scooter. The brand has now revealed the Ola Electric scooter in design renderings and a media interaction with Chairman and Group CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola Electric confirms its entry into the Indian market and gives us a glimpse of its future product.
Ola Electric Scooter Design & Styling
The Ola Electric scooter features a handlebar shroud-mounted headlamp which appears to have a projector LED headlamp along with a peripheral LED daytime running light. The front apron comes with a minimalist approach and only features sleek LED turn indicators and the ‘OLA’ badge and a chopped-off front fender with a futuristic look. When viewed from the profile, the Ola Electric scooter features a contemporary design language and the e-scooter appears to come with clean swooping lines on the sides, a generous footboard, premium seat upholstery with red contrast stitching, wraparound combination taillamp cluster, pillion grab rails, a small glove box on the inner panel and futuristic mechanical equipment such as a Telescopic Single Shock Headstock suspension on the front and hydraulic disc brakes on both ends. Speculations are that the Ola Electric scooter will have a top speed of over 100 kmph and a range of 100 km on a single charge.
Ola Electric Megafactory
The brand will be building the largest two-wheeler factory in the world and launch the Ola Electric scooter. The brand also confirms that the factory will be ready with phase 1 operations by June 2021 and have an annual capacity of 2 Million units per annum. However, by the year 2022, the mega factory will be able to churn out 10 Million electric scooter per annum. Ola will build the Future factory on 500 acres of land in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu and a 43 acres, 2 million sqft of the area will house all the production facilities called – Megablock. At its peak, the factory will be able to produce 10 million units with 1 scooter being produced every 2 seconds.
Highlights of the World’s Largest 2Wheeler Manufacturing Facility
The Ola Electric’s Megafactory at full capacity will have 10 production lines and will integrate Motor manufacturing, Battery manufacturing, weld shop, paint shop, General Assembly, finished goods and two supplier parks. The advanced manufacturing facility will have 3000 AI-powered robots built on Industry 4.0 principles. The plant also integrates its own test track.
Sustainability
Solar Panels will cover the Megafactory’s production facility area that spans 43 acres, 2 million square feet and is likely to power many of the Megablocks electric requirements. Using solar power helps the factory reduce the overall Carbon footprint which is the number one objective in the electric mobility solutions sector. According to the brand, the company will be carbon negative when fully operational with renewable sources of energy. The brand will also preserve a 2-acre central forest inside the Megablock as well as a 100 Acre forest on the Krishnagiri site. The trees that need to be removed during the construction will also be protected and transplanted to a new location. The brand also announces that the world’s largest two-wheeler production facility will create close to 10,000 direct employment as well as additional jobs created through suppliers and vendors.
