Ola unveils Hypercharger Network plan with one lakh EV charging units

Hitting it big on the charging infrastructure front, Ola Electric on Thursday unveiled plans for a mega Hypercharger Network with one lakh charging points for its e-scooter, ready for launch this July. This extensive network will be spread across 400 cities, making it arguably the world’s largest and densest.

In the first year alone, Ola will be ready with over 5,000 charging points across 100 cities in India. This, as Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola’s Chairman and Group CEO puts it, will be more than double the existing charging infrastructure in the country. The company has proposed to invest around $2 billion in the next five years for this project.

The Ola Scooter could get a 50% charge in 18 minutes at the Hypercharger, ensuring a 75 km range. Ola Hypercharger, says Bhavish, will be the fastest two-wheeler charging network. “Ola Hyperchargers will be widely deployed across cities and will be found in city centers and dense business districts.”

The entire network will be available only to Ola Scooter users. “This is a conscious, strategic choice to ensure seamless experience for the customers,” says Bhavish. However, as part of the network expansion plan and charger positioning, Ola has proposed to partner with oil marketing firms, malls, offices and other establishments.

The Hyperchargers will either be stand alone towers or destination chargers in popular locations such as malls, IT parks, office complexes, cafes and more. “Our plan is to ensure that Ola Electric customers always have a Hypercharger nearby.” The EV riders could track the charging progress in real-time on the Ola Electric app. Payments could also be seamlessly done through the same app.

The network is to be complemented by the home charger that will be bundled with the Ola Scooter. The home charger will require no installation. Ola EV owners will have to plug into a regular wall socket for overnight charging.

On the roll-out, Bhavish elaborates: “Electric is the future of mobility and we are reimagining the entire user experience of owning an electric vehicle. Our plans to build a comprehensive charging network is a key piece of this. By creating the world’s largest and densest 2-wheeler charging network, we will dramatically accelerate the customer adoption of electric vehicles and rapidly move the industry to electric.”

In March this year, Ola had unveiled its factory coming up on a 500-acre plot in Krishnagiri district of Tamilnadu. Once the Ola FutureFactory is ready, it is poised to be the world’s largest in two-wheeler manufacturing, with a capacity to produce 10 million e-scooters every year. This peak capacity will be reached in five years, says Bhavish.