Ola Futurefoundry: EV Maker To Open New Vehicle Development Facility In UK

Ola Electric recently said that it will establish a global centre for advanced engineering and vehicle design in Coventry, United Kingdom.

According to a tweet by CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, the facility will be known as 'Ola Futurefoundry,' which will collaborate with the company's design and engineering teams located in Bengaluru. It has drawn up a plan to spend $100 million—about 750 crores—into the Ola Futurefoundry.

“At Ola, we are building the future of mobility and continue to attract the best global talent across disciplines," said Aggarwal.

“Ola Futurefoundry will enable us to tap into the fantastic automotive design and engineering talent in the UK to create the next generation of electric vehicles. Futurefoundry will work in close collaboration with our headquarters in Bengaluru to help us build the future of mobility as we make EVs affordable across the world,” he added.

As reported, Wayne Burgess, vice president – Vehicle Design, Ola Electric said that Ola Futurefoundry is a critical step toward forming a multi-disciplinary team that is agile, versatile, and sensitive to the diverse needs of our global customers.

“We are setting up in Coventry – a global epicentre of automotive and technology talent. Futurefoundry will supplement and collaborate with our core team in Bengaluru to deliver exciting new EVs across two-wheeler, four-wheeler and other form factors," he noted.

The S1 Pro electric scooter is now sold in India by Ola. However, the distribution procedure was not smooth as it was thought earlier. Even some new customers also raised concerns about their electric scooters’ performance.

On a positive note, the company said earlier this week that it has successfully raised—about 1500 crore—in a new financing round. The latest investment was funded by Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, as well as Edelweiss, and values Ola Electric at $5 billion (37500 crores), up from $3 billion in September last year.

Meanwhile, according to separate reports, in the next 6 months, Ola Dash, the company’s rapid commerce vertical focusing on store-to-door business in 10 minutes, plans to extend its dark store network to 500 locations across 20 cities, said the company said on 28 January.

Ola plans to expand the business and increase order volume to more than 500,000 per day by the end of the year. Fresh produce, snacks and beverages, instant food, home care products, fruits and vegetables, kitchen basics, and other items are available at Ola Dash dark stores.

Ola Dash's service is presently available in 9 cities which are Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Lucknow, and is spread across 200 dark stores, offering an assortment of 2500+ SKUs (stock-keeping units).

In this case, Ola’s Chief Marketing Officer Anshul Khandelwal said: “Ola has been a leader in the on-demand mobility business for more than a decade. Our advanced geolocation tech, coupled with a very low cost of customer acquisition, gives us a unique advantage to bring the benefits of mobility to all.”

"Our quick commerce service is an essential part of our connect with customers as they rely on technology and online service to fulfil their daily needs,” he further added.

Also Read: Uber And Ola Are Among The Most Data-Hungry Ride-Hailing Apps, Some Of Which Also Share Data With Advertisers: Study