Ola To Introduce Electric Taxis In India

Chief Executive of Ola, Bhavish Aggarwal stated that the company would also invest to set up charging stations. But he did not reveal any information on the scale of investments.

India is a 12 billion dollar taxi market for Ola, and it competes with its rival company Uber. With the introduction of the electric cars, the company can lower the costs of vehicle maintenance.

In the next few weeks, the first batch of electric vehicles will be introduced under Ola's pilot scheme in Telangana and Nagpur. The electric vehicles comprise of two-wheelers, rickshaws and cars.

The electric car market in India is not so developed as compared to conventional vehicles. The government is pushing the sales of electric vehicles through its Fame scheme. In the financial year 2016-17, only 2,000 electric cars were retailed in the country.

The main reason behind the slumping sales of electric vehicles is the lack of infrastructure. High battery costs and limited range also kept the Indian buyers away from the electric vehicles.

Ola's plan to introduce electric vehicles in the country is a welcome move. But the cost of infrastructure will be a big challenge. The company states that Softbank is backing this idea, so it will be interesting to see how it pans out for Ola.