Ride-hailing firm Ola has spun out its electric vehicle division into its own business – and it’s raised Rs. 400 crore (£43m/$56m) in its first funding round from some of Ola’s existing investors, including Tiger Global and Matrix India.

Ola Electric Mobility, led by Ola executives Anand Shah and Ankit Jain, will operate independently and work to fulfil Ola’s aim of bringing 1m electric vehicles to Indian roads by 2022 and it is currently running several pilots. The business will also extend beyond this to focus on introducing charging and battery swapping networks. Ola Electric already has ‘several’ existing partnerships with OEMs and battery manufacturers and aims to work with the automotive industry on electric vehicle solutions.

“The first problem to solve in electric mobility is charging: users need a dependable, convenient, and affordable replacement for the petrol pump,” said Shah, head of Ola Electric Mobility. “By making electric easy for commercial vehicles that deliver a disproportionate share of kilometres travelled, we can jumpstart the electric vehicle revolution.”

Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder & CEO of Ola, added: “At Ola Electric, our mission is to enable sustainable mobility for everyone. India can leapfrog problems of pollution and energy security by moving to electric mobility, create millions of new jobs and economic opportunity, and lead the world.”