Abolish all petrol 2-wheelers in 4 years, says Ola co-founder - Times of India

BENGALURU: Bhavish Aggarwal seems to be a man in hurry. As Ola gets its traditional taxi business back into action after the Covid challenges, Aggarwal has now asked for abolition of all petrol two-wheelers by 2025 as his company — backed by Masayoshi Son of SoftBank — makes a foray into the traditional two-wheeler market with a combative entry price of Rs 99,999. It’s not just about cash-burn like most startups, he insists, and adds that his company intends to make profits, even if not from Day 1.
Asked about plans for entering the electric car market, Ola’s co-founder said, “We will get into it in the next two years. I will discuss details as we get closer to the project.” The 35-year-old Aggarwal, whose company takes on the old guard and heavyweights such as Honda, Hero Moto, Bajaj Auto, TVS and new ones like Ather and Hero Electric, says the price gets even lower and beats existing petrol models in states such as Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan with lucrative state subsidies for green vehicles and sweeteners such as zero registration charges.
“The incumbents (current two-wheeler companies) should reject petrol. Consumers have already rejected it,” Aggarwal told TOI as he outlines an aggressive strategy for his company that has set up a mega factory in Tamil Nadu, which has an annual capacity of a million units, and plans to scale this up to 10 million units (more than market leader Hero Moto) over the next two years or so.

Aggarwal minces no words as he wants “only leadership” for his fledgling but ambitious manufacturing venture, and says that Indian companies could take a global lead in green vehicles and their manufacturing. Ola Electric, Aggarwal’s automobile manufacturing company, plans to export vehicles to Asean countries, Latin America, Africa and even Europe.
His first vehicle, the S1 scooter, gives a range of 181 km and can accelerate from 0-40 km in three seconds with a top speed of 115 kmph. It charges 50% in 18 minutes on a fast-charger, while at home it takes six hours (for full charge) on a standard charger. The bookings have been a “few lakh” units, and deliveries will be from October.
Asked whether it’s ‘old versus new’ in the two-wheeler market, Aggarwal says that’s not the case. “I have a lot of respect for current leaders, including Pawan Munjal of Hero Moto. I don’t think it’s like old versus new… It’s about committing to this future of electric. We are fully committed (and) are also calling upon the incumbents to reject petrol and fully commit to electric. If they do that, and if we do our job well, then I think by 2025, we can make India a petrol-free market in twowheelers... We can lead the world and make India a global hub for electrics.”
“We will be the most profitable company at the right time,” Aggarwal says. “Time will tell. This is the time for investments, and I am putting in my money as equity. I want to ask the incumbents how much money are they investing?” The backing by SoftBank carries the stamp of aggression and even cash-burns to capture the market.
However, Aggarwal’s new venture has challenges. Not much is known about the charging infrastructure, and physical retail points and service centres will not be in abundance to begin with, while product quality and robustness remains still untested.

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Abolish all petrol 2-wheelers in 4 years, says Ola co-founder - Times of India
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