Bengaluru: Trip-hailing firm Ola mentioned it might promote 5,000 automobiles owned by its subsidiary Ola Fleet Know-how to used-car supplier Dbest Automobiles for Rs 125 crore. The corporate mentioned it might substitute the outdated autos with new ones. A supply conscious of the matter advised ET that Ola plans to switch them with electrical automobiles.Ola Fleet Applied sciences leased automobiles to cab drivers who operated completely on the Ola app earlier than the pandemic, when demand for the service far exceeded the variety of cabs on the app, resulting in longer wait occasions.

As quickly because the pandemic hit, greater than 33,000 cabs have been returned to Ola because the ride-hailing enterprise crashed amid lockdowns, sources mentioned. A number of sources advised ET that the corporate has since struggled to promote these autos, which have been parked in garages throughout massive cities in India.

The supply cited above mentioned round 8,000 automobiles have been offered to varied driver companions and different entities for the reason that pandemic started. Dbest Automobiles is the largest purchaser of used automobiles from Ola up to now. After the sale, Ola Fleet Know-how will nonetheless have hundreds of automobiles, 4 to 5 years outdated, that it has been unable to promote.The event comes as Ola is ready to enter the EV cabs area to tackle BP Ventures-backed BluSmart and Uber, which ET was the primary to report on January 4. Sources advised ET on the time that the corporate was more likely to lease EV cabs to drivers, although the precise enterprise mannequin was but to be determined. The corporate is ready to start out the pilot in Bengaluru with about 1,000 electrical automobiles earlier than scaling it as much as 10,000.

“Sale of used industrial automobiles is completely totally different from the sale of regular used automobiles (with white licence plates),” mentioned Gulshan Rao, director of dangers and model safety at Ola. “For the sale and buy of used industrial automobiles, there are quite a lot of obligations which should be fastidiously fulfilled and as a accountable firm, we have to select the precise associate for this to keep away from any future disputes.”

“We’re lucky to have the ability to get the chance to work with India’s largest radio taxi firm and really feel proud to have been chosen by Ola to assist them get rid of hundreds of used industrial autos,” mentioned Dinesh Singh, MD and CEO at Dbest Automobiles India. “This affiliation will present an accelerator for the expansion of our startup.”Ola Fleet Applied sciences has been dragged to court docket by some drivers because it began promoting autos for which the drivers have been paying a lease quantity, with the alleged promise of proudly owning these autos sooner or later.

Regardless of quite a few client complaints about declining service high quality, Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal has mentioned on a number of events that the ride-hailing enterprise is “extremely worthwhile” and “a mature enterprise”.

Governments throughout the nation are additionally encouraging the electrification of fleets with new laws that favour EVs.

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