Ola Electric, India’s first multimodal electric vehicle project, is reportedly, in discussion with Pawan Munjal, chairman of Hero Motorcorp, for a potential round of funding, reported Inc42, citing confidential sources.
Sources further revealed that the investment by Munjal is said to be done in his personal capacity.
“This deal has been in the works over the last few months and people close to Munjal were aware of the ongoing negotiations. He intends to invest in different startups going forward and this is also one among them,” the sources added.
Ola Electric mobility was set up as an independent entity in March 2019. It is currently running several pilots involving charging solutions, battery swapping stations, and deploying vehicles across two, three and four-wheeler segments.
Significantly, Hero Electric also manufactures electric vehicles in India and might have plans to source its EVs to the Ola’s ride-hailing fleet.
The source further added, “In the long term, this makes sense since Hero can supply its electric two-wheelers in the coming years to Ola. Also, at a time when the Union government is trying to promote electric mobility, such investment from a promoter of a two-wheeler manufacturer makes sense.”
Furthermore, the Indian electric vehicle industry recorded sales of 7.59 Lakh units in India till March 2019, this included the sale of 1.2 Lakh two-wheelers, 6.3 Lakh three-wheelers and 3.6K passenger vehicles.
Besides, other electric-based ride-hailing and sharing startups includes Vogo, Yulu, Uber, among others.