text size:
Krishnagiri: In a country where ease of doing business and speed of executing projects, even by the private sector, are talked about in terms of constraints, challenges and years and decades, the 500-acre “factory of the future” About three hours from the hustle, bustle and traffic nightmare of Bengaluru offers a glimpse into what the future of Indian manufacturing could be if all goes well.
This is the Ola Future factory in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district, just across the border from Bengaluru district in neighboring Karnataka, where technology companies have for decades helped global giants move into the future.
Ola Future Factory manufactures e-scooters or electric scooters, a mobility solution of the future that is fast becoming our present. In that sense, it is not exactly pioneering, as other Indian companies started riding the wave a while back.
But what makes the Ola project unique is its size, scale, ambition, demand – and the fact that it is run almost entirely by women workers. At full capacity, the facility aims to manufacture an e-scooter every two seconds.
It all started in January this year when the Ola Group, more famous for its ridesharing services in Indian cities, bought land from the Tamil Nadu government. Last week, just 11 months down the line, the company launched the first 100 Ola S1 e-scooters.
It would be an understatement to call it a race against time for Ola Group CEO and Chairman Bhavish Agarwal and his team.
Read also: India may lag behind on climate goals but its one-stop shop for electric vehicles is visionary
‘More than one lakh bookings’
Such is the response to Ola’s e-scooters that despite the current options in the market, Ola’s S1 and S1 Pro already have over a million reservations, according to Agarwal. The option to reserve the Ola e-scooter is still open on its app and website.
The backlash, as Agarwal described it, was overwhelming for India’s own domestic mobility giant. Now, the challenge before the company is to fulfill the order as per the delivery schedule.
“Unlike Tesla for four wheelers, we have no vision for two wheelers anywhere. We intend to change that,” Bhavish Agarwal told ThePrint, showing off a freshly built S1 scooter.
In 11 months, Ola will lay the foundation for a fully functional manufacturing unit, tie up with robotics and automation firms, hire young female graduates from nearby institutions, train employees, integrate artificial intelligence into production and ‘ Naya-‘ has managed to roll out. Age’ e-scooters are claimed to be 30 percent more powerful than their closest competitors.
‘First-Generation Career Woman’
Be it a paint shop, a sub-assembly line, a welding section, a battery facility or a treatment facility – the factory is dominated by women.
“We approached nearby colleges, diploma institutes and encouraged women graduates to work in FutureFactory. Many of our women employees are first generation career women,” Varun Dubey, chief marketing officer, Ola, told ThePrint.
The largely female workforce is filled with graduates in math and science, as well as those with diplomas in electrical and electronic engineering.
Most of the women at Future Factory are from small towns like Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Hosur. As Shift Manager, Test Riders, Assembler and Trainer at Ola FutureFactory, this is the first job for most young women.
‘Foundations for the future’
,[It is] Because we are laying the foundation for the future here,” said Bhavish Agarwal, while zeroing in on his team to name the manufacturing facility – Ola Future Factory.
In September this year, Agarwal announced that the Ola Future factory would be the world’s largest, most sustainable and most advanced two-wheeler factory.
With 100 acres of forest surrounding the factory and two acres in the middle of the mega-block – the factory has made ‘going green’ quite literally.
And, high on automation and robotics, the factory is looking to draw 20 percent of its electricity needs from rooftop solar panels.
At full capacity, Ola Future Factory intends to employ 10,000 women with an annual production of 10 million e-scooters. The numbers may sound huge, but Agarwal’s team is confident of achieving it by 2023.
Currently at a third of its intended size and capacity, Ola FutureFactory is expanding rapidly to set up additional manufacturing lines, supplier parks and battery facilities.
The employees work in three shifts every day to meet the delivery schedule of the e-scooters. According to the company, e-scooters worth Rs 1,100 crore were sold during the two-day purchase in September this year.
A Walk In The Mega Block is a quick educational tour on Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturing. “We look forward to starting the study tour once the factory has expanded to its full capacity,” Agarwal told ThePrint.
Overhead platforms are being prepared for these proposed study tours.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) is already a fascination in FutureFactory. From motion-sensor robots to automated welding giants transporting ‘scooter kits’, workers and machines work in perfect harmony.
In February this year, Ola announced a partnership with ABB Robotics and Automation Solutions at its factory. The team at Bhavish Agarwal hopes to integrate motion sensors for their scooters in the future as well.
demand and supply
From January 16, 2021, when Ola bought the land, to August 15, when they built their first e-scooter, to December 15, when they started delivering their first 100 vehicles – it has been a long journey.
“We have a reservation of over 10 lakhs,” Agarwal told ThePrint.
However, ‘reservations’ are only an intent of interest shown by potential buyers.
Actual sales During the two-day purchase window in September, the value, as mentioned above, was around Rs 1,100 crore. Of the estimated numbers, Ola currently has orders for around 90,000 scooters, which the company expects to deliver in the next two months.
“We have a direct-to-customer model of service and hence there are no dealerships. Even if the vehicle requires a service, the customer just needs to book a slot on the app and we will provide door-step service,” said Varun Dubey.
Reservation options, purchase window, payment window etc. are Ola’s ways of streamlining demand and estimating manufacturing and distribution schedules. Ola says the reservation option provides a priority indication for scooter buyers during the purchase window. The next purchase window is due to open in February.
push for electric vehicles
Bhavish Aggarwal is emphasizing on phased closure of two-wheelers running on petrol by 2025.
While the government’s lower tax rates and subsidies on electric vehicles are encouraging more people to look to EVs, the question of preparedness still looms large.
In a written reply to a question in Parliament this month, Union Road and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said that there is a total of 8.7 lakh people in India. Registered EVs, of which 44 per cent were in Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi.
Agarwal said the demand for e-scooters is high in big cities like Bengaluru and Chennai, but Ola doesn’t have a city-wise breakup of data on demand.
“People who use electric vehicles charge them at homes and use them within the city. This means the charge stays well within the EV’s range and there is less need for a charging point in public places. But, for emergencies, we are looking at setting up charging points at public parking spots, government offices etc,” Gaurav Gupta, Brihat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commissioner, told ThePrint.
He said that in many cases, EV manufacturers also correspond with private businesses like petrol bunks and tech companies to set up charging points.
(Edited by Saikat Niyogi)
Read also: Ola’s new e-scooter factory exclusively for women, aims to make 10 million two-wheelers by 2022
subscribe our channel youtube And Wire
Why the news media is in trouble and how you can fix it
India needs free, unbiased, non-hyphenated and questionable journalism even more as it is facing many crises.
But the news media itself is in trouble. There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism is shrinking, bowing to raw prime-time spectacle.
ThePrint has the best young journalists, columnists and editors to work for it. Smart and thinking people like you will have to pay a price to maintain this quality of journalism. Whether you live in India or abroad, you can Here,