Ola to focus on electrification of small vehicles, says Bhavish Aggarwal

Terming electrification as the future of mobility, Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal said that the company would focus on electrifying small cars, two-wheelers and three-wheelers and build technologies and business models in this segment which would be relevant globally.

The acquisition of Amsterdam-based electric scooter startup Etergo by Ola earlier this year, was a first step in that direction, Aggarwal said speaking at the virtual India Global Week forum.

“The small vehicles format is much larger in terms of volumes as compared to large format vehicles. So the electric feed is incomplete unless you solve this segment of mobility from a technology and business model standpoint,” he said.

In the post Covid-19 world, there has been an accelerated focus on making mobility more cleaner and greener, electric mobility being one of the major solutions.

Aggarwal said Ola’s mission was to build mobility solutions for a billion people across all paradigms, including personal mobility. “When it comes to personal mobility, people will live with it for a long time to come. We are also focussed on giving access to clean efficient and safe personal mobility solutions, and that’s the vision where Ola Electric fits in,” he explained.

Ola Electric, the ride-hailing firm’s electric vehicle arm, aims to launch its global electric two-wheeler in India next year. The move would put the firm in direct competition with electric two-wheeler makers such as Ather Energy, Hero Electric and TVS Motor Company in India.