Rivals need to invest in EV tech: Ola CEO

NEW DELHI: Ola Electric founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has said that his company was well ahead of competition to grow the electric two-wheeler business and added that rivals needed to invest heavily in technology to come up to speed, while reiterating his suggestion to stop the production of scooters and bikes that run on traditional internal combustion engines.
“Our competitors, who had said that EV is a fake business and there is no money to be made, have pretty much eaten their words by their actions. Ab maidan mein sab kood parein hain (now everyone has jumped into the fray), without the right tools and weapons. All of them are losing money in EVs, while I am profitable. They will have to go through the journey of investing in technology. In the last four years, I have invested almost $1 billon, which they have not done. EV is not an assembly game, it is a very strong technology game,” Aggarwal told TOI.
One in every five scooters sold in India is now an EV, which the startup founder believes is coming of age for a segment that was not seen to be viable. Those like Rajiv Bajaj of Bajaj Auto have been sceptical of EVs.

“It is good that they (rivals) are in the maidan (field), because it will increase consumer mindshare of EVs, but it will be hard for them to compete on product performance, profitability and growth because they just don’t have the foundation required in terms of technology,” he said.
Aggarwal said there is now “rhythm” in the electric two-wheeler space, with the entire infrastructure falling into place – from suppliers to distribution and charging ecosystem.
“In scooters, ICE production should stop because customers have enough options. The ICE industry is doing dis-service to the nation by continuing to produce ICE… The market forces are in good rhythm to scale up the charging network, distribution, service network and supply chains. The ICE makers in national interest should shut down ICE… If they don’t take EVs seriously, if they don’t invest, their shareholders will punish them in the future,” he said.
Ola Electric, which listed recently, has lined up plans to add 1,000 non-company stores to augment its capacity of 850 dealerships and will launch its motorbikes in the March quarter, having unveiled three models, with eight variants, on Independence Day. “There is continued focus on vertical integration to bring in newer technologies and reduce costs. Our overall strategy is to drive profitable growth,” he said, while repeatedly emphasising on the need to keep costs low.
Aggarwal did not rule out an entry into three-wheelers, although he qualified it by saying that the company has never announced any launch date. “The entire technology and product development for two-wheelers is easily transferable to three-wheelers. The cost advantage, the profitability can be easily transferred. As and when we choose to get it, another advantage we will have is that three-wheeler drivers are already on the Ola Cabs platforms. We know their requirements, their problems, their financing needs and we have a relationship with them.”