Complete transition to electric two-wheeler mobility by 2025 possible: Ola CEO

As Ola Electric launched its highly-anticipated electric scooter S1 on Sunday, August 15, the company's chairman and group executive officer Bhavish Aggarwal shared that no petrol two-wheeler should be sold in India after 2025. He stressed that this sustainable transition can be achieved in four years. To make India the global leader in electrification, he said that the entire Indian auto industry should join hands to achieve the goal.

He highlighted the importance of electrification and stated it as ‘an absolute urgency’. According to a PTI report, Aggarwal questioned the time frame of 10 to 20 years that the industry often points to. “Why so long? Why can't we do it by 2025?" he was quoted. He mentioned that this can be done at a faster rate with proper investment, appropriate technology, positive willpower and collective leadership. “We have to build in India and make the country a global leader in electrification...and I believe the entire Indian industry should come together towards this ambition...there are a lot of naysayers but we need to make it happen and that is the spirit we work with," he said.

Bhavish Aggarwal also mentioned the advantages that this transition will bring in. “There will be more jobs if India becomes a global EV leader and we should accelerate our journey in that direction," he added. When asked what will happen to jobs in the conventional two-wheeler industry, he said that those involved in the traditional fuel ecosystem can easily be retained into the EV ecosystem.

The Ola chairman stressed the importance of steps that need to be taken to reverse climate change as it is the need of the hour. “Eighty percent of the vehicles sold in India today are two-wheelers and despite that only 12 percent of India owns a two-wheeler. These vehicles consume 12,000 crore litres of fuel every year and are responsible for 40 percent of air pollution," he said during the launch event of Ola S1. Asserting that the adoption of EVs is crucial and no longer optional, he said that Ola Futurefactory is a move towards innovation and manufacturing at a global scale.

(With inputs from PTI)

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