Bhavish Aggarwal in Bengaluru, India. The high-profile Ola founder hopes to make 10 million vehicles annually or 15% of the world’s e-scooters by the summer of 2022 before selling abroad as well. — Bloomberg
Bhavish Aggarwal surveys the empty 500-acre expanse encircled by neon-painted homes, tiny shrines and mango groves. The high-profile Ola founder hopes to erect the world’s largest electric scooter plant on this vacant plot on Bangalore’s outskirts within the next 12 weeks, cranking out about two million a year – a landmark for one of India’s largest startups.
A two-and-a-half hour drive southeast of Bangalore, Aggarwal’s envisioned US$330mil (RM1.35bil) mega-factory marks a bold foray into uncharted territory for an entrepreneur who’s spent 10 years building a ride-hailing giant. His follow-up Ola Electric is getting into an electric vehicle market already crowded by names from Tesla Inc to China’s Nio Inc – albeit with a humble two-wheeler initially – but that could play in a US$200bil (RM819.20bil) domestic EV industry in a decade.
