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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