Ola’s parent firm forms new unit for electric vehicles

As cab aggregator Ola gets ready to enter the electric-car segment, its holding company ANI Technologies has created a subsidiary, Ola Electric Mobility Pvt Limited, according to a filing with the Registrar of Companies. The Bengaluru-based company, with Japanese internet giant SoftBank as a major investor, plans to lease electric vehicles — mostly cars and autos — to start with, and delve into two-wheelers going ahead. The company is already running a pilot for electric cars and will soon make an announcement in this regard. The company had last year announced a strategic tie-up with Mahindra Group that manufactures electric cars in the country at present.

Ola, which has a presence in 110 Indian cities, has been aggressively expanding its operations in a bid to outdo arch rival Uber by all means. With electric vehicles, it is likely to have an edge over the San Francisco-based company, sources said.

Besides Mahindra, Japanese auto major Nissan is also considering to launch Leaf, its electric car, in India soon, even as the government explores a plan to push electric vehicles as a part of its clean-energy push to curb pollution.

Queries from BusinessLine on the rationale behind setting up Ola Electric Mobility, along with other details on its structure and investments, remained unanswered.

Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and co-founder, Ola, however, had told BusinessLine earlier this year: “We shall be rolling out electric cars in top cities. We will shortly identify the cities where the pilot project will be launched, and any decision to scale up the roll-out of e-vehicles will be taken on the basis of the feedback we receive.”

SoftBank Group Chairman Masayoshi Son had also last year mentioned that Ola would soon introduce a fleet of 1 million electric cars in the country in partnership with an electric vehicle maker and the Centre.

According to sources, Ola will make substantial investments in Ola Electric Mobility and most of it will come from the recent $200-million fund the company has raised from SoftBank and Ratan Tata. Interestingly, Tata’s further investment in Ola comes in at a time when Tata Motors is also planning to enter the electric-vehicle segment and is likely to make hybrid and electric luxury buses and trucks, to start with.

Besides setting up a subsidiary for leasing electric vehicles, Ola has also set up another company, called Ola Skilling Pvt Ltd, for providing training and improving the skills of its driver-partners. The firm also has another subsidiary for leasing cars, Ola Fleet Technologies.

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