Mobility services provider Ola announced that it has partnered with ABB, a Swedish-Swiss robotics and automation firm, for its “mega-factory” in India which is expected to roll out electric scooters in the coming months.

A statement issued by the company says that it will use ABB’s services for “key manufacturing process lines, including its painting and welding lines”, while the ABB robots will be deployed for battery and motor assembly lines.  The release adds that ABB’s robots will be integrated into Ola’s AI-enabled mega-factory to improve robot performance, productivity and product quality. 

Announcing the agreement between the two companies, Bhavish Aggarwal, Chairman and Group CEO, Ola said, “We are bringing in global expertise and stitching up partnerships that will help us build out our factory in record speed and roll out the first of our electric scooters in the coming months”.

Sanjeev Sharma, Managing Director, ABB India and South Asia, also commented on the partnership between the two firms. He said that they are “privileged” to partner with Ola and believes that their automation services will be “instrumental to roll out these world class scooters for India and the rest of the world.” He added that the automation will make the manufacturing units safer, improve productivity and product quality. 

The Ola factory will be set up in Tamil Nadu and will initially be capable of manufacturing 2 million units annually and create 10,000 jobs. It will also be the most automated manufacturing unit in the country and serve as a hub for global manufacturing for countries across Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

In January, Ola announced a partnership with Siemens for the upcoming vehicle manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu. The factory will serve as Ola's global manufacturing hub catering to its customers in India as well as key markets across Europe, UK, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.