Ola Electric Raises Over $ 200 Million In Funding To Accelerate Electric Car and Motorcycle Development – Technology News, Firstpost

Tech2 News StaffSep 30, 2021 6:51:03 PM IST

Ola Electric said it has raised more than $ 200 million in funding led by global asset manager Falcon Edge Capital, Japanese firm Softbank and others, with the electric vehicle maker valued at $ 3 billion. Ola says the newly secured funding will help the company “accelerate the development of other vehicle platforms,” ​​including its upcoming electric motorcycle, electric car and scooters that follow its first offering, the Ola S1. At present, Ola is starting her adventure in the vehicle manufacturing sector with a scooter, but eventually plans to have a large portfolio of two and four wheels.

In a tweet posted Thursday evening, Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal announced the fundraiser and said India is “building the technologies of the future” as it evolves into a “global electric vehicle hub. “. He also said he hopes motorists across the country will avoid gasoline two-wheelers altogether after 2025.

India is building the technologies of the future and becoming a global hub for electric vehicles! With this increase, we will accelerate the development of our vehicles on 2W scooters, motorcycles and 4Ws.

And the Mission Electric fast lane: No 2W gasoline in India after 2025! #jointhervolution https://t.co/u2IGW7oshB

– Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) September 30, 2021

“We are proud to lead the electric vehicle revolution from India to the world. India has the talent and the capacity to build the technologies of the future for the industries of the future for the whole world. I thank our existing investors and welcome new ones to Ola. Together we will bring mobility to a billion and sustainability into the future, ”Aggarwal added in a subsequent statement.

After finally starting sales on September 15, Ola Electric was forced to temporarily stop accepting purchase orders on September 16. In two days, the company claims to have sold scooters worth Rs 1,100 crore, and Tech2 understands that the total order bank with Ola Electric for the S1 and S1 Pro electric scooters exceeds one lakh of units, with reservations amounting to multiples of lakhs. The buying window will reopen in early November, but prices for S1 (Rs 99,999) and S1 Pro (Rs 1,29,999) are expected to see an upward revision.

Ola has already announced that it will begin deliveries direct to buyers’ doors from the end of October, and is currently conducting test production at its future sprawling factory in Tamil Nadu, which the company says is the largest factory in the world to employ female workers.

The factory is considered the largest two-wheeler production plant in the world, spread over a total of 500 acres of land. The Ola plant has an annual production capacity of two million vehicles in phase 1, and that number will increase to ten million vehicles by next year. At this point, Ola Electric estimates that it will produce a new two-wheeler every two seconds from ten production lines.

While its first product was based on the AppScooter developed by the Dutch start-up Etergo (acquired by Ola Electric in 2020), the company is working on the development of different types of electric vehicles, and has even appointed the former head of design. of Jaguar Wayne Burgess as its vice president. design chair.