Indian ride-hailing company Ola plans EV cab service pilot with 1,000 cars

Ride-hailing company Ola is planning to start its own electric vehicle (EV) cab service and will begin the pilot in Bengaluru with around 1,000 cabs, The Economic Times reported quoting people aware of the matter.

The service, which will be available on the Ola app as a "premium offering" along with regular cabs and auto service, will not include cancellations from drivers, a typical problem faced by consumers in the Indian ride-hailing market.

The ride-hailing company said the electrification of its car fleet will help bring down the cost of operations significantly as the cost of running an electric car is less than diesel cars - rising fuel prices has seen ride fare soar recently.

The company eventually plans to procure more cars and scale up the number of EV cabs to over 10,000 in one year in the city and lease them out to drivers who will have fixed income along with variable pay.

The launch of the new EV ride-hailing service will see Ola go head to head with local competitors like Uber and BluSmart, which also recently started EV operations in Bengaluru.