Ola Electric signs pact to raise $100 million in long-term debt

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Ola Electric on Monday said it has signed a $100 million (about Rs 744.5 crore) 10 year-term debt financing agreement with Bank of Baroda. The 10-year debt of $100 million is towards the funding and financial closure of phase I of Ola Futurefactory – its global manufacturing hub for electric two-wheelers, a statement said.

Ola had, in December last year, said it will invest Rs 2,400 crore for setting up phase I of the factory.

“Today’s agreement for long-term debt financing between Ola and Bank of Baroda signals the confidence of the institutional lenders in our plans to build the world’s largest two-wheeler factory in record time.

“We are committed to accelerating the transition to sustainable mobility and manufacture made in India EVs for the world and we are happy that Bank of Baroda has joined us in our journey,” Ola Chairman and Group CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said.

Ola Futurefactory is coming up on a 500-acre site in Tamil Nadu. At full capacity of 10 million vehicles annually, it will be the world’s largest two-wheeler factory.

“The government has brought in several policies to incentivise Make-in-India and to enable India to become a global EV leader. Ola is leading from the front and we are delighted to partner with them for their EV business. The Ola Futurefactory will put India on the global EV map and we are proud to be associated with them,” Sanjiv Chadha, Managing Director, and CEO of Bank of Baroda, said.

Ola said the first phase of the Future factory is nearing completion shortly, following which production trials of the Ola Scooter will commence.

While the company is yet to disclose the pricing and specifications of its e-scooter, Ola has stated that it is working on setting up a ‘Hypercharger Network’ to include one lakh charging points across 400 cities.

Recently, Aggarwal had shared a video of him astride an Ola electric scooter for a ride in Bengaluru.

The top executive had earlier said that the e-scooter was likely to be launched in India in July this year and that Ola Electric would look at taking the vehicle to international markets, including countries like France, Italy, and Germany, fiscal as well.

The launch of the electric scooter is in line with Ola’s global vision of moving mobility into a more sustainable, accessible, and connected future.

Last year, Ola Electric had also acquired Amsterdam-based Etergo BV for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition of Energy was aimed at further bolstering its engineering and design capabilities in the electric mobility space.

When launched, the Ola electric scooter will go up against Hero MotoCorp-backed Ather Energy, Bajaj Auto, and others