Indian EV scooter company develops net-zero mega-factory

Ola is building a sustainable mega-factory that will aim to produce ten million scooters per year

Spotted: The ride-sharing company Ola has recently begun construction on an electric scooter mega-factory. The complex, located in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, will be capable of producing 2 million electric scooters each year, with an expansion to 10 million scooters per year by 2022. It will act as a global manufacturing hub for its range of electric-powered scooters and two-wheelers, sold in India and international markets. On top of this, the entire factory will be carbon negative.

The Ola factory will provide 10,000 jobs when completed and will use around 3,000 AI-enabled robots. To provide power, the factory roof will incorporate an array capable of powering the factory, and also produce a surplus. The factory will also include a two-acre forest and another 100 acres of forest on the 500-acre (two-square-kilometre) site. Any trees that are uprooted during construction will be transplanted nearby.

Because electric scooters don’t have any emissions, they can be used indoors. To take advantage of this, the factory will house its own test track, so vehicles can be tested in inclement weather – speeding up the process. While Ola has not released all of the scooter’s technical specs, they have confirmed that both speed and range will have a maximum of 100 km/h (62 mph) and 100 km (62 miles) respectively.

Ola says that the company’s new mega-factory will be the, “most sustainable factory in the world.” The scooters themselves will have two portable battery packs weighing 10.5-11 kg each and fully charging the battery packs will take only an hour. Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola’s co-founder and CEO has said that the battery packs, motor and software are all being designed and manufactured in-house. 

At Springwise, we have seen a wide number of innovations in EV scooters designed to get just about everyone using them. These range from an inflatable scooter, to an autonomous smart scooter that remembers where you live.

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