India can be an all-electric two-wheeler market by 2025: Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal believes that India’s scooter market can switch to an all-electric market by 2025. In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Aggarwal said that to ‘truly take the EV revolution to humanity scale, it needs to be done for India. 

Adding that India is a great microcosm for the rest of the world, he stated that by the end of 2025 we (Ola) can make all two-wheelers in India electric. 

“It is a little aggressive, but that's what we are striving for. And to make that happen, we need to build the right products for India at the right cost structures, and bring the supply chains to India,” he told CNBC-TV18.

Aggarwal, in the interview said that today, Ola Electric is India's No. 1 EV company by revenue, bigger than even four-wheeler EV companies.

Explaining how Ola’s journey has been different from its startup peers, Aggarwal said, “Today, Ola has three companies in the group. Ola Rideshare is the largest B2C in India that is very profitable. We are one of the few B2C companies to be profitable at scale in India. About four or five years ago, we started focusing on profits. As our business model is profitable, we were able to survive the COVID period. Then about three-and-a-half years ago, I started Ola Electric.”

Ola has designed a three-pronged business model that includes two-wheelers, cars, and fundamental cell technology.

During the interview, he also mentioned that its cell factory is under construction and will be ready by this year. Aggarwal stated that the factory will be the largest cell factory in India. 

“Total world production today is about 1,500 gWh. Ours will be a fairly large-scale plant. For two wheelers, we've set up the world's largest two-wheeler plant and all of this is in one large place in Tamil Nadu, 100 kilometres from Bengaluru,” he said.

Talking about the replacement of the front fork that Ola has offered to its 2 lakh customers, Bhavish said “Our technical aspect is that the front fork is made of aluminum. It is stronger than a typical steel front fork. But when the steel front fork gets into an accident, it bends due to the bending property of steel. When aluminum gets into the same accident and if the force is at the same level, it will snap. That's the nature of aluminum.”

When asked about the delay in IPO, Aggarwal said “I was ready, but then this whole Russia-Ukraine (war) happened. I don't need to raise money through an IPO. My businesses are throwing up cash. Hence I decided to delay it by at least a year or till the time the market settles down.”