Ola to launch electric scooters in New Zealand

Ola Electric Mobility, the electric vehicle arm of Indian ride hailing unicorn Ola Cabs, will launch its electric two wheeler range in New Zealand, the Bengaluru-based company said in a statement.

“We welcome and strongly support the move by the Honorable Prime Minister and the New Zealand government towards carbon neutrality, especially in the mobility sector. We are excited about bringing our electric 2 wheelers to New Zealand to further accelerate development of sustainable solutions,” Bhavish Agarwal, chairman and Group CEO, Ola, said.

Ola did not give a specific time frame for the launch.

New Zealand has a goal of having 64,000 electric vehicles on the road by the end of next year.

Ola, which acquired Amsterdam-based electric scooter manufacturer Etergo in May, is gearing up to launch its first electric two wheeler in India.

Set up in 2014, Etergo sells AppScooter, an EV that uses swappable batteries to deliver a range of up to 240 km. With its handlebar controls, users can control their phone through bluetooth, answer calls, stream music and navigate.

The company said it is in advanced stages of setting up a scooter factory in India, which it claims will be the world’s largest. Once completed, the factory will have the capacity to manufacture over two million scooters a year, the statement added.

Last month, Ola appointed former General Motors executive Jose Pinheiro as the head of global manufacturing and operations for its electric vehicle business. Earlier this year, the company announced plans of hiring over 2,000 people for the EV arm.

Ola Electric has raised about $400 million in funding from Tiger Global, Matrix India, Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata and others.

Ather Energy, the largest funded electric two wheeler manufacturer in India, raised $35 million in a growth round earlier this month, led by Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal. In September, TVS Motor Company invested $4 million in Bengaluru-based electric bike maker Ultraviolette Automotive.

In the past one year, Mumbai-based engineering company Greaves Cotton has acquired two electric vehicles firms -- Bestway Agencies and Ampere Vehicles.

Last month, TechCircle exclusively reported that Easetronics, which operates multi-brand, omnichannel sales and lease rental platform for electric two-wheelers Welectric, raised an undisclosed amount of angel funding.