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Ola Electric

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Ola Electric Mobility
Company typePublic
NSE: OLAELEC
BSE: 544225
IndustryElectric vehicles
Founded2017; 7 years ago (2017)
FounderBhavish Aggarwal
Headquarters
Bangalore, Karnataka
,
India
Area served
India
Key people
Bhavish Aggarwal (CEO)
Anand Shah (Co-founder)
ProductsS1 X
S1 Air
S1 Pro
Production output
Increase 329,000 (FY24)[1]
Services
  • Motor vehicle manufacturing
  • Motor vehicle distribution
  • Charging solutions
  • EV batteries
RevenueIncrease ₹5,009 crore (US$600 million) (FY24)[1]
Negative increase ₹−1,584 crore (US$−190 million) (FY24)[1]
Owners
Number of employees
3,733 (October 2023)[4]
Websiteolaelectric.com

Ola Electric Mobility is an Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturer, based in Bangalore. It has a manufacturing facility located in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu. In 2023, the company led the electric scooter market in India, with a 30% share.[5]

Currently, it offers an electric scooter named Ola S1 in three variants named Ola S1 Air, Ola S1X and S1 Pro. The company plans to launch its electric motorcycle models in 2025.[6]

History

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2017–2019

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Ola Electric was established in 2017 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ANI Technologies, the parent entity of Ola Cabs.[7][8] The company was started to reduce emission and fuel dependency of Ola's cabs, and shift to mass electric mobility; a pilot program was launched in Nagpur in May 2017 by setting up charging stations across the city and procuring electric cabs, e-buses, and e-rickshaws from OEM partners.[9][10] In April 2018, it announced that it aims to have 1 million electric vehicles in its cab service by 2022.[11]

Between December 2018 and January 2019, founder Bhavish Aggarwal bought a 92.5% stake in Ola Electric from ANI Technologies at a valuation of ₹1 lakh (about US$1,400 then), and Ola Electric was spun-off as a separate entity. ANI Technologies continued to hold a 7.5% stake in Ola Electric for allowing the use of "Ola" brand name.[12]

In February 2019, Ola Electric raised US$56 million from Tiger Global and Matrix India.[13] The company announced on 6 May 2019 that Ratan Tata had invested an undisclosed amount in Ola Electric as part of its Series A round of funding.[14] It raised $250 million from SoftBank during Series B round funding in July 2019, at a valuation of over $1 billion.[15]

2020–present

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Ola scooters fresh out of assembly line

In May 2020, Ola Electric acquired Etergo, an Amsterdam-based crowdfunded electric scooter manufacturer, for €3.75 million in a distress sale.[16] Ola Electric announced that it would launch its own line of electric scooters in India by 2021.[17]

In December 2020, the company announced its plan to set up the world's largest two wheeler factory (called the Future Factory) in Tamil Nadu at a cost of ₹2,400 crore (US$323.89 million) after signing a memorandum with the Government of Tamil Nadu.[18] It acquired a 500-acre land in Pochampalli, Krishnagiri District in January 2021; the construction work for the factory began in late February.[19]

OLA S1 Pro Gen 1 Electric Scooter
Ola electric scooter

Ola Electric received 500,000 bookings for scooters in the first month of availability.[20]

Ola Electric started delivering its S1 and S1 Pro models in December 2021 with the deliveries of 100 scooters in Bengaluru and Chennai, although some promised features were not enabled in initial deliveries.[21][22]

Ola Electric raised more than $200 million from Falcon Edge, SoftBank Group and others at a valuation of $3 billion in September 2021.[23] In December the same year, it raised $53 million in an investment round led by Singaporean investment firm, Temasek.[24] In January 2022, Ola Electric raised US$200 million from multiple investors at a valuation of US$5 billion.[25]

In late March 2022, Ola made a strategic investment in Israel-based battery technology company StoreDot to incorporate and manufacture its XFC (extreme fast charging) battery technologies for future vehicles in India.[26] In the wake of a fire incident in its scooter in Pune on 26 March, the company recalled a batch of 1,441 scooters in April as a "pre-emptive measure".[27]

On 20 June 2022, Ola Electric teased its first sedan electric car.[28] However, two years later, the company scrapped its plan to launch electric cars, choosing to focus on electric scooters and motorcycles.[29]

In July 2022, CEO Bhavish Aggarwal announced that the company was building Battery Innovation Center (BIC) in Bangalore, which would be Asia's largest cell R&D facility, with an investment of $500 million.[30]

In October 2023, the company raised $140 million in equity and $240 million in debt, at a valuation of $5.4 billion, to set up a lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu called Ola Gigafactory.[31][32]

On 2 August 2024, Ola Electric launched its initial public offering (IPO) and raised ₹5,500 crore. Existing investors, including founder Aggarwal, sold 84.9 million shares in the IPO.[33][34]

On 15 August 2024, Ola Electric unveiled the prototype of its first electric motorcycle series, named Roadster, which was announced to be launched in three variants in 2025.[35] In September 2024, Aggarwal announced that Ola Electric will unveil its electric three-wheeler later that year.[36]

Production

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Ola scooter assembly line

Ola Electric operates a 500-acre automated complex, called the Ola Future Factory, in Pochampalli, Tamil Nadu. It has deployed automated robots in its welding and painting lines, and battery and motor assembly lines.[37] In 2021, it announced that it would employ only female workers on its manufacturing floor.[38] The first electric scooter was manufactured on 15 August 2021.[39] By January 2022, it was producing nearly a thousand electric scooters daily.[40]

As of 2024, Ola Electric sources batteries for its electric scooters from LG Energy Solution and CATL. The company has announced that it would transition to using batteries from its own manufacturing facility, the Ola Gigafactory in Pochampalli, which is anticipated to commence commercial production of lithium-ion batteries in 2025.[41]

Reception

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In March 2023, following criticism over safety defects in its front fork design,[42][43] Ola Electric announced that it would replace the front fork arms of its S1 and S1 Pro series scooters at no cost.[44][45]

In 2022, reports surfaced about a hostile work culture within the company.[46][47]

In a 2024 presentation, Ola's CEO stated that the company is the "Largest EV Company in the world" with a fine print stating this is '*excluding China'. Commentators noted that this equated to excluding most of the world's largest EV companies. For example, Chinese manufacturer Yadea sold 16.5 million electric two-wheelers in 2023, compared with Ola selling over 300,000 units.[48][49]

Ola Electric was criticized for using a competitor's advertising photographs of on-road motorcycles with Ola Electric motorcycles substituted for those of the competitor.[50][51]


In October 2024, Ola Electric Founder/CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal had a major spat with comedian Kunal Kamra who raised the issue of the massive number of consumer complaints with Ola scooters and the number of vehicles piled up with service related complaints at Ola service centres because of software glitches, product quality and the lack of qualified technicians.[52] A disgruntled Ola customer set fire to a showroom in protest of poor service of his non functional scooter.[53] Ola stock prices have been on freefall since the initial spike post the IPO.


See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "IPO-Bound Ola Electric's FY24 Net Loss Widens To INR 1,584 Cr, Revenue Jumps 90%". Inc42. 27 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Statement showing shareholding pattern of the Promoter and Promoter Group". BseIndia. 16 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Statement showing shareholding pattern of the Public shareholder". BseIndia. 16 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Ola Electric planning to layoff 400-500 employees to streamline operations". Business Standard. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  5. ^ "Ola Electric eyes IPO filing by Oct-end to raise up to $700 mn: Report". Business Today. 2023-09-20. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  6. ^ Choudhary, Govind (15 August 2024). "Ola Electric Roadster, Roadster X and Roadster Pro e-bikes launched, starting at ₹74,999: Range, features and more". Mint. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  7. ^ "The big electric scooter battle". Fortune India. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  8. ^ "Ola: Ola Electric gets $250m funding from SoftBank". The Economic Times. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  9. ^ Peermohamed, Alnoor (27 May 2017). "Ola kicks off pilot of its electric mass mobility project in Nagpur". Business Standard India. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  10. ^ "Introducing Ola Electric". blog.olacabs.com. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  11. ^ Peermohamed, Alnoor (17 April 2018). "Ola aligns with Softbank's dream of one million electric vehicles". Business Standard India. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  12. ^ "The Curious Case Of Bhavish Aggarwal And Ola Electric". Moneycontrol. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  13. ^ "India's Ola spins out a dedicated EV business — and it just raised $56M from investors". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  14. ^ Bansal, Varsha (6 May 2019). "Ratan Tata raises stake in Ola, invests in fledgling electric vehicle business". Mint. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  15. ^ Bansal, Varsha (2 July 2019). "Ola Electric races to unicorn status with $250-million fundraise from SoftBank". mint.
  16. ^ S.H, Salman (24 November 2020). "Ola's Electric Ambitions Hinge On A Brewing Lawsuit Stemming From An Acquisition". Inc42 Media. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  17. ^ Bhalla, Tarush (27 May 2020). "Ola Electric acquires Etergo, looks to launch electric scooters in India by 2021". mint. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  18. ^ Abrar, Peerzada (14 December 2020). "Ola to invest Rs 2,400 crore for 'world's largest' e-scooter factory". Business Standard India. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  19. ^ "Ola Electric factory almost ready as company gears up for e-scooter launch". Hindustan Times Auto News. 4 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  20. ^ Anirban Mitra (20 August 2021). "Electric Scooter News: How Ola, Simple e-scooters started solid, clocked record bookings |". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  21. ^ "Ola Electric delivers first 100 scooters without some promised features". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  22. ^ "Ola Electric Commences S1, S1 Pro Scooter Deliveries in Bengaluru and Chennai". News18. 2021-12-16. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  23. ^ "Ola Electric gets $200 million funding at $3 billion valuation". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  24. ^ Agarwal, Ankit (2021-12-08). "Ola Electric raises $53 mn in round led by Temasek, valued at $2.7 bn". mint. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  25. ^ "Ola Electric raises $200 million in funding at a valuation of $5 billion". cnbctv18.com. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  26. ^ "Ola Electric makes strategic investment in fast-charging tech company StoreDot". The Economic Times. 21 March 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  27. ^ "Ola Electric recalls 1,441 units of electric two-wheelers". The Hindu. 24 April 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  28. ^ "Ola Electric teases its first electric car; likely to launch in 2023". Hindustan Times Auto News. 2022-06-20. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  29. ^ Aditi, Shah; Kalra, Aditya (25 July 2024). "SoftBank-backed Ola Electric suspends India car project to focus on scooters, bikes, sources say". Reuters. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  30. ^ "Ola Electric building EV cell R&D facility in Bengaluru with $500 mn investment". Hindustan Times. 18 July 2022.
  31. ^ "Ola Electric closes $240 million in debt financing to set up lithium-ion cell factory". The Economic Times. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  32. ^ "Ola Electric commences construction of India's largest Gigafactory in Tamil Nadu". TimesNow. 2023-06-21. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
  33. ^ "Ola Electric Mobility: EV maker to launch IPO on August 2 to raise Rs 5,500 crore". The Times of India. 2024-07-28. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  34. ^ "Ola Electric holds a battery secret on road to IPO". Mint. 21 March 2024.
  35. ^ "Ola Electric launches e-motorcycle series 'Roadster' starting at Rs 74,999". Moneycontrol. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  36. ^ "Ola Electric is working to bring its three-wheeler to market soon, says Bhavish Aggarwal". CNBCTV18. 2024-09-05. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  37. ^ "Ola to deploy ABB's robotics, automation solutions at EV manufacturing facility". The Indian Express. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  38. ^ Baba, Moyuru (23 September 2021). "Indian startup Ola opens all-female electric scooter factory". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  39. ^ Mohile, Shally Seth (3 August 2021). "Ola Electric to ride into two-wheeler market with scooter launch on Aug 15". Business Standard India.
  40. ^ "Ola commences construction of mega factory on 500-acre site in Tamil Nadu, eyes production soon". www.cnbctv18.com. 25 February 2021.
  41. ^ "Ola Electric working on building solid-state batteries: Bhavish Aggarwal". Business Standard. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  42. ^ Sachdev, Alisha (12 April 2023). "How Ola wilfully endangered its riders". Mint. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  43. ^ Charan, Parth (21 March 2023). "Opinion | Ola Electric's faulty front fork design highlights a history of problems with its scooters". Moneycontrol. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  44. ^ "Ola offers free front fork replacement for Ola S1 and S1 Pro scooters". Mint. 14 March 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  45. ^ John, Nirmal (17 March 2023). "Replacement? Recall? Upgrade? Ola Electric's word jugglery in the S1 Pro front-fork arm controversy". The Economic Times. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  46. ^ Desai, Prathik (18 May 2022). "Unreal deadlines, no autonomy, high-level exits: Ola Electric's work culture under scanner". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  47. ^ Sharma, Niharika (19 October 2022). "What has turned Ola Electric into a toxic workplace?". Quartz. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  48. ^ "Why the Chinese EV sector is not a 'footnote'". 25 August 2024.
  49. ^ Anupam, Suprita (2024-08-17). "Fact-Checking Ola's Sankalp: Do Bhavish Aggarwal's Claims Hold Up?". Inc42 Media. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
  50. ^ Sood, Utkarsh (12 September 2024). "All that glitters is not gold: Ola e-motorcycles slammed upon launch". New Atlas.
  51. ^ Momin, Aamir (20 August 2024). "ZigOpinion: Are The Ola Electric Bikes Too Good To Be True?". Zig Wheels.
  52. ^ "Kunal Kamra slams Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal over EV scooters again, explains why it's a 'public issue'". Live Mint. 21 Oct 2024.
  53. ^ "'Buy this if you want to ruin your life': The hapless Ola e-scooter buyers from Delhi". newslaundry.
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