Ola partners Siemens for EV manufacturing facility

On Wednesday, Ride-hailing Firm Ola said it has teamed up with Siemens for its upcoming electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu to incorporate the latter's technology.

In December, Ola announced a contract with the government of Tamil Nadu to invest Rs. 2,400 crore (US$ 327.97 million) to establish the first electric scooter plant in the state.

Ola's plant will be established on the standards of Industry 4.0 and will be the country's most advanced production facility. It will have approximately 5,000 robots spread across several positions.

Ola will have access to Siemens' integrated "Digital Twin" design and manufacturing solutions as part of the agreement to digitise and test products and manufacturing ahead of actual development.

A digital twin is a simulated image of a physical product that can assist in recognising and anticipating the output attributes of the physical equivalent. In order to model, predict, and optimise the product and production system prior investing in physical prototypes, digital twins are used.

Ola stated that the factory will be functioned by artificial intelligence with the proprietary AI Engine and tech stack of Ola seamlessly integrated into every component of the production process, constantly self-learning and optimising every aspect of the production process.

It added, “This will provide the core functions with unprecedented power, automation and quality, particularly with Ola's deployment of cyber-physical and advanced IoE systems.”

For optimum productivity, Ola said that the overall material handling at its factory will be completely automated - from raw materials to the transportation of materials within the factory, to storage, to the finished scooter moving off the production lines and being loading onto trucks.

These technologically advanced systems would integrate seamlessly with the employees of Ola to provide the ideal combination of people and machines working in tandem to create the most effective manufacturing system and provide Ola's clients with the highest goods produced.

The plant, with an initial capacity of 2 million units per year, is projected to create nearly 10,000 employment opportunities.

Ola Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Bhavish Aggarwal said, “Ola is pleased to collaborate with Siemens to develop the country's most sophisticated production facility. This will be our international center and will set a benchmark in quality, scale and performance, demonstrating the potential of India to create cutting-edge products of the world class.”

Mr. Sunil Mathur, Managing Director and CEO of Siemens India, said, “The organisation is a global pioneer in Industry 4.0.”

He said, “We are proud to commit to the vision of Ola to establish a future factory leveraging our expertise in automation and digitalization to ensure the highest standards of efficiency and quality while facilitating an agile and scalable method of development.”

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.