The rise and crash of India's largest EV company
a year ago
- #Electric Vehicles
- #Startups
- #India
- Pitambar Panda, a 24-year-old product designer in Pune, India, purchased an Ola electric scooter to save on fuel costs.
- The Ola S1X Plus scooter offered a range of 150 km, a top speed of 90 km/h, and a keyless start system for 96,000 INR ($1,125).
- Panda experienced a sudden system failure while riding, leading to an accident that broke his collarbone.
- Ola Electric, founded by Bhavish Aggarwal, grew rapidly, capturing over half of India's EV scooter market by 2024.
- Aggarwal, often compared to Elon Musk, has ambitious goals but faces criticism for micromanagement and high employee turnover.
- Ola scooters have been reported to spontaneously combust, reverse unexpectedly, and suffer mechanical failures.
- Despite initial success, Ola's market share has declined due to operational inefficiencies and poor after-sales service.
- Aggarwal has shifted focus to AI with Krutrim, aiming to develop an Indian supercomputer and large language model.
- Ola announced layoffs of over 1,000 employees in March 2025 amid financial struggles and declining scooter sales.
- Customers like Panda remain skeptical of Ola's reliability, despite repairs and promises of improved safety.