Babish Agarwal’s  Ola Electric, which he likens to  the  Tesla  of  the West,  has grown sales of electric scooters  from zero to 338,000  units  in about two  years and aims to list on the stock market.  

 Bhavish  Agarwal, India’s  answer to Elon Musk, is  hell-bent on bringing  millions of electric scooters  to market  and  leading the country  to a cleaner future.  But some  of his mechanics  can’t  keep  up.  

  Mr. Agarwal’s  Ola Electric, which he likens to  the  Tesla  of  the West, is  seeking to go public  after  selling electric scooters  from zero to 338,000  units  in about two years. The  technology  entrepreneur  promises  to banish  internal combustion  engines  (ICE) from India, where  two-wheelers dominate  the roads. 

  “We are ending  the ICE  era,”  the 38-year-old told Reuters ahead of the launch of  the  new Ola  electric scooter, which starts  at about  $1,000,  on  August  15,  India’s  Independence  Day. Ta.  He said the company, already valued at $5.4 billion, would quadruple its annual production capacity  of electric scooters  to 2 million  units  by  the beginning of the  year. 

  But there are some holes in Ola’s  rapid  journey. 

 Parts of the company’s nationwide network of over 400 service hubs which maintain and repair its EVs are showing signs of strain after the surge in sales, according to Reuters visits to 35 centres in 10 states between July and October, plus interviews with 36 Ola service staff and 40 customers. 

  Staff at more than half of those centres, mainly sites in the big metropolitan areas of Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru, said they had significant backlogs, with demand outstripping their workforce or their supply of spare parts, and repair waiting times ranging from three days to two weeks.  At an Ola workshop in Thane, among the biggest of the 14 centres in the Mumbai region, more than 100 e-scooters awaiting repairs were visible outside in a clearing, many parked in a muddy clearing gathering dust and littered with bird droppings. 

  Bhavish Aggarwal’s Ola Electric, which he likens to Tesla in the West, is zipping towards a stock-market listing after going from zero to 338,000 e-scooter sales in about two years.  

 Bhavish Aggarwal’s Ola Electric, which he likens to Tesla in the West, is zipping towards a stock-market listing after going from zero to 338,000 e-scooter sales in about two years. (Photo  from  Ola Electric website) 

 Bhavish  Agarwal, India’s  answer to Elon Musk, is  hell-bent on bringing  millions of electric scooters  to market  and  leading the country  to a cleaner future.  But some  of his mechanics  can’t  keep  up. 

  Mr. Agarwal’s  Ola Electric, which he likens to  the  Tesla  of  the West, is  aiming to go public  after  increasing sales of electric scooters  from zero to 338,000  in about two years. The  technology  entrepreneur  promises  to banish  internal combustion  engines  (ICE) from India, where  two-wheelers dominate  the roads.  

  “We are ending  the ICE  era,”  the 38-year-old told Reuters ahead of the  August  launch of  Ola’s  new  electric scooters, which start  at about  $1,000. 15th, India’s  Independence  Day.  He said the company, already valued at $5.4 billion, would quadruple its annual production capacity  of electric scooters  to 2 million  units  by  the beginning of the  year. 

  But there are some holes in Ola’s rapid journey.  

  Ola’s  nationwide network of  more than  400 service  centers service  and repair  electric vehicles,  according to Reuters visits to 35  centers  in 10 states  and  interviews with 36 Ola service  employees between July  and  October. Some areas are showing signs of congestion due to large-scale power outages. Sales skyrocketed and the number of customers reached 40.  

  Aggarwal, Ola’s  founder and  CEO, promised in January  that customers would be able to  drop off  their vehicles  at the  hub and receive same-day service in most cases.  In  an  August interview, he said customers  are “voting  with their wallets every  month”  by  purchasing Ola’s electric vehicles. However,  he acknowledged  that  service capacity  was an issue  and said Ola was  “aggressively” expanding  its service network by adding 100 new  centers  and hiring more technicians. 

  “We have the  most  products on the  market…and  we  need to expand  our service network,” he said. An Ola  spokeswoman  said the Reuters  report did not  accurately capture the  scope  and quality of the  company’s  robust and growing  services business.  

 Ravi Bhatia of  automotive consultancy  JATO Dynamics said a good service network  is essential  in India, the  world’s largest  two-wheeler market.  He added that technology-packed electric vehicles  are new to  Indians as they are  more sensitive to  shocks  and  shocks  than many  traditional  scooters and  motorcycles. The driving environment in  India can  certainly be challenging, with  hundreds of millions of people  using two-wheelers  to navigate  often congested and  potholed roads.  Ola  “needs to  build  its service  infrastructure  accordingly, otherwise  it  will  get hurt by word of mouth,”  Bhatia said. 

  “Tesla  for the West, Ola for the  rest.” 

 Agarwal has often declared, “Tesla is for the West, Ola is for the rest,”  and  he is  a man in a hurry.

 He  said  all new scooters and  motorcycles  sold in India could be electric by the end of 2025,  meaning that by 2030,  70% of new two-wheeler sales  would be electric. This significantly exceeds the government’s target. 

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