Ola Electric to double current EV manufacturing capacity in 6–9 months

Ola Electric plans to double its electric vehicle manufacturing capacity from one million units per annum to two million units per annum within the next 6–9 months. Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder of the company, expressed optimism about its financial growth and said that the recently launched products, along with the upcoming ones, would boost revenues and profit.

“The financial year 2022 was primarily an investment phase for us. We commenced product sales only in January of the previous year, resulting in revenue being realised that year. FY23 has been a strong revenue year for us, and in fact, our bottomline has improved significantly,” said Aggarwal during a media roundtable. It has yet to file its financials for FY23.

The company, which after a long delay, posted its FY22 numbers, reported a loss of ₹784.1 crore, compared to ₹199.2 crore loss in FY21. However, it saw a significant improvement in revenue at ₹373.4 crore in FY22, up from ₹86 lakh in FY21.

“While I can’t share any forecasts for this year, you will be positively surprised with our financials.” According to the founder, the company has a strong balance-sheet. Furthermore, “We have a lot of capacity to invest in our future products, and investment in our motorcycle segment is also underway,” he added.

Ola introduced a slew of products at its Consumer Day event, including its latest offering, the Ola S1X EV scooter, on Independence Day. Its existing portfolio offers five vehicles at varying price points, starting at ₹ 89,999 and going up to ₹1,47,499.

The event also saw the unveiling of e-motorcycle models: Cruiser, Adventure, and Roadster. “Currently, e-motorbikes are in the engineering phase. We expect them to be ready by the end of the calendar year 2024.”

Models of e-motorcycles

Beyond its product expansion, the company is also ambitious about going global this year. “We are looking at global markets, and we have started engaging with different markets. We haven’t delivered any e-scooters yet, but most likely this year or next year will see us expand to our first global market.

Furthermore, it plans to double its current EV manufacturing capacity from one million per annum to two million per annum within the next 6–9 months. This can be further expanded up to 10 million per annum, he added.

product line

From January 2021 to March 2023, Ola said it sold more than 3 lakh EVs. With the launch of its latest line of products, it expects to generate massive demand and hence is looking to double its capacity. “As you see, our sales over the last couple of months have been around 25,000 units per month, which we expect to only improve going forward,” he noted.

Additionally, the company is also actively progressing toward its cell manufacturing plant, which should be ready by the end of this year. “The plan is to make 5 GWh of cell capacity in phase 1, and we will slowly expand that,” Aggarwal said. During the launch event held at Ola’s Future Factory in Krishnagiri Tamil Nadu, the founder demonstrated the prototype of a working Lithium-ion cell.

Regarding the ongoing discussion about the company’s potential IPO, Aggarwal refrained from providing a specific timeline, mentioning, “A two-year timeframe is quite extensive, and circumstances can evolve significantly.” As per Ola’s four-wheeler car, Aggarwal mentioned that they are simultaneously focusing on its development alongside their other endeavours.

Ola Electric’s ambitious plans are in line with its founder’s belief that the two-wheeler market will grow from 20 million to 40 million over the course of this decade, largely driven by EV sales, which will also result in premiumisation and penetration.