Mobility And Cost
Ola Cabs electrical vehicle survey insights on various parameters including vehicle performance, customer behaviour, environmental conditions, renewable energy integration etc.
Towards making electric vehicles viable in our mobility ecosystem, the Ola Mobility Institute, a policy research and social innovation think-tank, unveiled a report on India’s first multimodal E-Mobility initiative. The report, titled ‘Beyond Nagpur: The Promise of Electric Mobility’, offers insights from extensive electric vehicle operations by India’s largest shared mobility provider to help inspire business models, provide data to inform policy and encourage guidelines that will expedite the national effort to adopt electric mobility. Findings
The study primarily focused on experimenting with various scenarios that would test the viability of EVs on economic metrics. One such essential metric, the Total Cost of Ownership or TCO, includes the direct and indirect costs of purchasing, running and
maintaining a commercial vehicle over its typical lifetime of four years, making it a key driver to proliferate EVs on Indian roads towards realizing our E-mobility ambitions as a nation.
Specific Measures
The report identifies specific measures to encour
The study primarily focused on experimenting with various scenarios that would test the viability of EVs on economic metrics
age the adoption of EVs, based on significant learnings from hands- on operations, and a deep understanding of financial metrics. For example, Ola’s EV pilot has shown significant operational pressure on charging stations during peak periods, suggesting utilisation challenges for infrastructure. The pilot also showed substantial potential for battery swapping as a reliable charging mechanism for small format vehicles. During the Nagpur pilot, lithium-ion battery swapping increased the available operating time for three wheelers by 25% compared to fixed battery systems, and by 50% when compared to lead-acid battery powered alternatives.
Additionally, the report also presents data to encourage the usage of renewable energy to power EV infrastructure. For instance, installing rooftop solar panels on Nagpur charging stations reduced the average electricity expense of the platform by 28%.
Anand Shah, Senior Vice President and Head of Ola Mobility Institute (OMI), said, “The Nagpur pilot was designed to provide first-hand experience to inform a viable business model for electric vehicles at scale. We are convinced that the growing base of renewable energy combined with sound policy measures to promote high utilisation of electric vehicles can make India an exemplar for market-based electric vehicle ecosystem.”
The electric fleet by Ola in Nagpur - a combination of e-rickshaws and e- cabs - has served over 3,50,000 customers, clocked over 7.5 million km, saved over 5.7 lakh litres of fossil fuel, and reduced CO2 emission by over 1,230 tons since its inception.