Ola To Partner With Tata Motors To Launch Electric Vehicles

Ola, India’s biggest cab aggregating startup, is set to launch a fleet of electric vehicles (EV) in collaboration with Tata Motors. The cab hailing startup will launch the electric Tata Nano cabs as a part of its fleet of taxis in Delhi NCR by the end of 2017.

Tata Motors first showcased the EV concept car at the Geneva motor show in 2010 and claimed to have a range of 160 km on one charge. The electric cars, however, will not be made completely by Tata Motors but will be a product of Jayem Automotives and will be called the Jayem Neo. The car will also be available for personal use as well soon.

Tata Motors will be joining companies such as Mahindra, Suzuki, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai working on electric car technology. This move is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission to make India go completely electric by 2030. The deteriorating air quality in the northern parts of the country in recent times prompted automakers to accelerate their plans to introduce electric vehicles in India.

Multiple previous reports suggest Bengaluru based Ola would be deploying a million electric vehicles in the next five years to capture the country’s booming electric vehicles market. Ola’s chief investor Softbank also revealed plans to make Ola an electric car manufacturer in collaboration with global carmaker, Toyota. The company was also a part of the launch of India’s first multi modal electric vehicle project held in Nagpur in May this year. Under this project, 200 electric powered public transport vehicles were supposed to be deployed on Ola’s app platform in Nagpur.  

Ola Technologies is also expected to narrow its loss this fiscal year and become profitable during the fiscal year 2018-2019. According to a valuation report by audit firm Jain Ambavat & Associates, Ola could report a net operating profit of over Rs. 1,170 crores which could grow further to Rs. 6,423.33 crores by 2020-2021.