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阿加瓦尔能成为印度的马斯克，还是会崩溃?
20多岁时，印度最大的拼车公司的创始人击败了财力雄厚的竞争对手优步(Uber)，保持了该国的顶级品牌地位。现在，阿加瓦尔希望他的Ola电动汽车有限公司能取代埃隆·马斯克的特斯拉公司和中国的比亚迪公司，在低成本设计领域开辟出一个利基市场，成为电动汽车行业的领导者。
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塔塔汽车获得埃弗拉2000辆XPRES电动汽车订单
这些车辆是现有的塔塔汽车电动汽车车队的一个补充与聚合器。
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这种毫不留情的态度使37岁的阿加瓦尔成为印度最坚定的企业家之一，但也是印度最分裂的企业家之一。20多岁时，印度最大的拼车公司的创始人击败了财力雄厚的竞争对手优步(Uber)，保持了该国的顶级品牌地位。现在，阿加瓦尔想要他的Ola电移动Pvt有限公司取代Elon Musk的特斯拉通过在低成本设计领域开辟一个细分市场，中国的比亚迪(BYD Co.)成为电动汽车行业的领导者。
但对20多名前任和现任员工的采访显示，阿加瓦尔坚持不懈的工作节奏和管理风格惹恼了Ola Electric的一些经理和董事会成员，引发了人们对安全和商业模式的担忧。由于担心遭到报复，这些员工要求匿名。供应链问题耽搁了两轮车。销售已经放缓。一些顾客抱怨滑板车着火、电池有问题或导致事故的软件，促使产品召回和在Twitter上道歉。阿加瓦尔的两家价值数十亿美元的公司——Ola Electric和运营Ola网约车业务的ANI Technologies Pvt——约有30多名高管在加入公司一到两年内辞职，离职率高于同行。
上个月，阿加瓦尔在位于班加罗尔的Ola Electric豪华总部接受采访时说:“激情和情绪高涨，我们的旅程并不轻松。”他偶尔摸摸办公室的三只狗:Happy、Husky和fat。“但我不想为自己或奥拉选择更轻松的旅程。我的愤怒，我的沮丧——这就是我的整体。”
阿加瓦尔的使命充满希望。印度已经是世界上最大的两轮车制造商和最大的全球市场。在蓝筹投资者和主权基金寻找中国的替代品之际，中国在制造廉价汽车方面的成功，可能为发展中经济体如何在不付出高昂代价的情况下废弃内燃机、降低排放提供了一个典范电动汽车．在印度，政府补贴和廉价劳动力正帮助电动汽车变得和内燃机汽车一样便宜，甚至更便宜。
Research and Markets的数据显示，到2020年，印度电动汽车市场的规模预计将超过1,500亿美元，大约是目前规模的400倍。去年12月，Ola的电动两轮车上市仅几个月后，阿加瓦尔就开始在推特上调侃该公司的汽车设计和一个新的电池创新中心。他积极推动颠覆印度受传统束缚的汽车行业，该行业几十年来一直由塔塔(Tata)和马欣德拉(Mahindra)等大企业集团主导。
“巴哈维什·阿加瓦尔希望通过在电动汽车行业大获成功，登上世界舞台，”追踪初创企业的班加罗尔公司Tracxn Technologies的联合创始人尼哈·辛格(Neha Singh)说。然而，在取得了一些初步成功之后，“Ola要想让电动汽车成为印度的大众市场，还有很长的路要走。”
阿加瓦尔在接受彭博社采访时表示，他希望建立具有持久影响力的公司，即使这意味着惹怒一些人。他说，印度不仅可以生产更便宜的电动汽车，还可以在5G、绿色能源和可持续移动领域培育全球足迹，从而超越竞争对手。他说，在实现这些目标方面取得的进展是“世界评判我们的标准”。
他说:“没有汗水和眼泪就不会有重大的成功。”
“快速学习者”
阿加瓦尔十多年前开始了他的商业生涯，从事拼车业务。
在获得工程学学位并在微软公司(Microsoft Corp.)工作了一段时间后，他于2010年与印度孟买理工学院(Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai)的同学巴提(Ankit Bhati)创立了Ola。这家名为ANI Technologies Pvt的公司最初为旅游团提供出租车，但很快转向了叫车服务。当时，大多数印度人依靠的是参差不齐的社区出租车服务。
78岁的TVG Krishnamurthy是ANI科技公司的董事会成员，他称阿加瓦尔是一个“快速学习者”，拥有“立刻专注于地上生长的草和树顶上的花”的独特能力。
“一个周日，我们在聊天时，他问，‘Ola在印度所有的交通出行中会占多少份额?’”Krishnamurthy回忆起与阿加瓦尔10年前的一次谈话时说道。“他开始在浴室门的后面标注持股比例。”
随着印度城市人迅速采用这项服务通勤或跑腿，这项业务蓬勃发展。2013年，当全球竞争对手优步科技公司(Uber Technologies Inc.)开始在印度开展业务时，阿加瓦尔鼓励Ola的员工在各个方面都要比这家硅谷公司聪明——优先与政府官员联系、公关闪击以及为司机提供支持服务。
前员工表示，当时这家初创公司是一个令人兴奋的工作场所。Ola招募了100多万名司机，并将业务扩展到几十个城市。2014年底，优步在印度的业务因一起可怕的犯罪事件而受挫，一名司机被捕，后来被判强奸乘客罪名成立。与此同时，Ola的市场份额稳步增长。该公司吸引了淡马锡(Temasek)和华平(Warburg Pincus)的投资者，并向英国、澳大利亚和新西兰进行了国际扩张。
但高管们在接受采访时表示，到那时，Ola内部的分歧正在扩大。2017年，阿加瓦尔成立了Ola Electric，并开始探索制造电动汽车的资本密集型业务。虽然他在新企业中使用Ola品牌，但该业务是完全独立的。ANI Technologies的联合创始人巴蒂和几乎所有早期投资者都不是新公司的一部分。
阿加瓦尔在接受彭博社采访时表示:“我认为，当我们进入一个资本密集度、债务状况和能力都非常不同的行业时，给别人增加负担是不公平的。”“这就是为什么投资者有机会选择退出。谁觉得自己想投资，谁就投资了。”
建设未来工厂
到2020年，阿加瓦尔把大部分时间都花在了建设Ola Electric上。通常情况下，电动汽车公司至少需要几年的时间来生产。阿加瓦尔希望缩短这一时间表，以便与班加罗尔的Ather Energy等本土竞争对手竞争。该公司花了数年时间开发一款电池，并在批量生产其设计产品之前，花了数月时间对100辆初始踏板车进行质量检查。
阿加瓦尔设计了一个更短的时间表。2021年3月，他站在班加罗尔外3小时车程的一片贫瘠的土地上，在一次媒体聚会上描述自己的梦想，即在几个月内建造一座耗资3.3亿美元、产能可达200万辆电动滑板车的两轮工厂。阿加瓦尔计划在两年内建设10条年产1000万辆摩托车的生产线。他希望将这些汽车出口到欧洲和拉丁美洲。
六个月后，Futurefactory开业了。到2021年底，该公司的第一款滑板车上市。
Ola Electric没有采用经销商模式，而是通过社交媒体接触买家，这是此前任何汽车制造商都没有尝试过的策略。Ola Electric的制造过程采用了创新技术，包括超声波摩擦焊接，在每个电池组的电池之间锻造数百个连接。在参观工厂时，阿加瓦尔喜欢炫耀无噪音的装配线和给滑板车喷漆的机器人。
但没过多久，投诉就在社交媒体上堆积起来。阿加瓦尔和Ola Electric的推特上满是对交货延迟、电池过热和摩托车着火感到不满的买家。当阿加瓦尔最近在推特上问他的粉丝们想要什么酷的滑板车配件时，一个人回答说，“灭火器。”
在Ola Electric内部，员工们表示，公司文化在过去几年变得充满敌意。据现任和前任员工称，在会议上，阿加瓦尔因为缺少页码而把报告撕成碎片，用旁遮普语的绰号骂员工，还说团队“没用”。高管们在接受采访时表示，原定一个小时的会议通常会持续10分钟，因为阿加瓦尔会对备忘录中多余的句子、弯曲的回形针或打印纸张的质量失去耐心。
留任是一个问题，尤其是在最高管理层。包括Zilingo前首席财务官拉梅什·巴夫纳在内的一些高管在正式接受聘书几天后决定不加入Ola Electric。一位后来离开了Ola Electric的业务主管，将Ola Electric的期望比作“必须像世界上最伟大的短跑运动员尤塞恩•博尔特(Usain Bolt)那样跑马拉松”。
当被问及他的管理风格时，阿加瓦尔说:“不是每个人都适合我们的文化。”“在一个公平、无菌的工作环境方面，没有一个世界标准。”
Bafna拒绝置评。
挑战“大男孩俱乐部”
到目前为止，包括软银集团(SoftBank Group Corp.)等公司在内的两家公司的董事会在会议上对阿加瓦尔的治理方法几乎没有说什么。但在采访中，一些后来离职的高管对与阿加瓦尔的弟弟安库什(Ankush)创办的初创公司进行股票互换交易的道德问题表示担忧。安库什目前是Ola Electric金融服务部门的负责人。
还有关于估值的问题。据三位知情人士透露，去年，当ANI Technologies准备IPO时，投资者华平投资集团(Warburg Pincus)和淡马锡私人公司(Temasek Pte)参与了第二笔交易，导致估值从约60亿美元跌至30亿美元。他们说，早期投资者觉得自己被骗了。但仅仅几个月后，在该公司完成一系列交易进行首轮融资后，投资者包括雪绒花在美国，ANI Technologies的估值飙升至73亿美元。
Ola没有回应有关收购或估值波动的问题。在彭博社的采访中，阿加瓦尔没有直接回答这两个问题，但他将一些审查归咎于嫉妒的竞争对手。
他说:“汽车行业的现任者是大男孩俱乐部(Big Boys Club)。”“他们为我这样的新贵敞开了大门。我的问题是，‘他们在做什么?为什么印度没有引领汽车电气化?’”
近几个月来，Ola Electric面临的业务挑战变得更加清晰。滑板车的销售还没有起飞。据《商业标准报》(Business Standard)报道，7月份汽车注册量较6月份下降35%。根据汽车登记数据，到今年7月，Ola Electric的销量略高于4.5万辆，远远低于工厂的生产能力，也低于去年12月开始预订时收到的100万辆。
但在供应链中断和维护问题之后，阿加瓦尔表示，未来工厂的产量正在上升。他指出，Ola Electric拥有独特的优势，包括在拼车服务、汽车零售融资和车辆保险方面的端到端服务。在8月中旬发布其电动汽车的公司活动上，Ola electric自称是“印度最大的”电动汽车公司，生产“世界上最好的”电动滑板车。
无论Ola Electric成功与否，阿加瓦尔的崇拜者似乎都认为，他推动了电动汽车市场，吸引了数百万美元的投资。尽管存在风险，阿加瓦尔说，他更愿意从长远考虑，并朝着一个崇高的目标前进:为印度，并最终为世界生产数百万辆负担得起的汽车。
“从小到大，我们经常听说印度是一个发展中国家，”他说。“改变这种状况是我们这一代人的命运，现在是时候了。我认真对待责任和机会。”
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Such an unsparing attitude has made Aggarwal, 37, one of India\u2019s most determined entrepreneurs but also one of its most divisive. In his twenties, the founder of India\u2019s largest ride-sharing company held off deep-pocketed rival Uber to remain the country\u2019s top brand. Now, Aggarwal wants his Ola Electric<\/a> Mobility Pvt Ltd to displace Elon Musk<\/a>\u2019s Tesla<\/a> Inc and China\u2019s BYD Co. as the industry leader for electric vehicles by carving out a niche in lower cost designs.
But Aggarwal\u2019s relentless pace and management style have vexed some managers and board members at Ola Electric, raising concerns about safety and the business model, according to interviews with more than two dozen former and current employees, who asked for anonymity out of concern for reprisals. Supply chain problems have delayed two-wheelers. Sales have slowed. Some customers complain that scooters catch on fire, have faulty batteries or accident-causing software, spurring product recalls and apologies on Twitter. Around three dozen senior executives working across Aggarwal\u2019s two billion-dollar companies \u2014 Ola Electric and ANI Technologies Pvt, which runs Ola\u2019s ride-hailing operations \u2014 have quit within a year or two of joining, a higher turnover rate than peers.
<\/div><\/div>Late last year, as internal challenges mounted and the global investment climate cooled, Aggarwal paused an initial public offering plan for ANI Technologies, which was last valued at $7.5 billion according to researcher CB Insights. Now, as question marks hang over Ola Electric, multiple current and past executives said in interviews that the company and its risk-taking founder are at a crossroads: Aggarwal could become India\u2019s answer to Elon Musk or he could collapse under the weight of his own ambitious vision.
\u201cPassions and emotions run high and we are not on an easy journey,\u201d Aggarwal said in an interview last month at Ola Electric\u2019s swanky headquarters in Bengaluru, occasionally petting the three office dogs: Happy, Husky and Fatty. \u201cBut I don\u2019t want to choose an easier journey for myself or for Ola. My anger, my frustration \u2014 that\u2019s me as a whole.\u201d
Aggarwal\u2019s mission has promise. India is already the world\u2019s largest manufacturer of two-wheelers and the biggest global market. With blue-chip investors and sovereign funds looking for alternatives to China, the country\u2019s success in building affordable vehicles could provide a model for how developing economies can scrap combustion engines and lower emissions without costly electric cars<\/a>. In India, government subsidies and inexpensive labor are helping make EVs as cheap as or cheaper than internal-combustion-engine models.
\u201cPassions and emotions run high and we are not on an easy journey,\u201d Aggarwal said in an interview last month at Ola Electric\u2019s swanky headquarters in Bengaluru, occasionally petting the three office dogs: Happy, Husky and Fatty. \u201cBut I don\u2019t want to choose an easier journey for myself or for Ola. My anger, my frustration \u2014 that\u2019s me as a whole.\u201d
Aggarwal\u2019s mission has promise. India is already the world\u2019s largest manufacturer of two-wheelers and the biggest global market. With blue-chip investors and sovereign funds looking for alternatives to China, the country\u2019s success in building affordable vehicles could provide a model for how developing economies can scrap combustion engines and lower emissions without costly electric cars<\/a>. In India, government subsidies and inexpensive labor are helping make EVs as cheap as or cheaper than internal-combustion-engine models.
<\/div><\/div>\u201cThe cheapest Tesla costs $50,000, which most of the world cannot afford,\u201d Aggarwal said. \u201cWe\u2019ve a chance to lead the EV revolution with a different set of options priced between $1,000 and $50,000.\u201d
India's EV market is expected to reach more than $150 billion by the end of the decade, or roughly 400 times its current size, according to Research and Markets. Just a few months after Ola\u2019s electric two-wheeler hit the market last December, Aggarwal started tweeting teasing glimpses of the company\u2019s car design and a new battery innovation center. He has zealously pushed to upend India\u2019s tradition-bound automobile industry, which for decades has been dominated by conglomerates like Tata and Mahindra.
\u201cBy seeking to pull off something big in the EV industry, Bhavish Aggarwal aspires for the world stage,\u201d said Neha Singh, co-founder of Tracxn Technologies, a Bengaluru-based firm that tracks startups. However, after some initial success, \u201cOla still has to cover a huge distance to make electric vehicles a mass market in India.\u201d
In the Bloomberg interview, Aggarwal said he wants to build companies with lasting impact, even if that means rubbing some people the wrong way. He said India can surpass rivals not just by making cheaper EVs, but also by cultivating a global footprint in 5G, green energy and sustainable mobility. Progress in achieving those goals, he said, is \u201cthe yardstick the world should judge us by.\u201d
\u201cThere\u2019s no major success without sweat and tears,\u201d he said.
A \u2018Quick Learner\u2019<\/strong>
Aggarwal started his business career more than a decade ago in ride-sharing.
After completing an engineering degree and a stint at Microsoft Corp., he founded Ola in 2010 with Ankit Bhati, a classmate at the premier Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai. The company, incorporated as ANI Technologies Pvt, originally provided cabs for tour groups, but soon pivoted to ride-hailing. At that time, most Indians relied on spotty neighborhood cab services.
TVG Krishnamurthy, 78, a board member of ANI Technologies, called Aggarwal a \u201cquick learner\u201d with the unique ability to \u201cfocus at once on the grass growing on the ground and the flowers at the top of the tree.\u201d
\u201cOne Sunday, we were chatting and he asked, \u2018What would Ola\u2019s share be in all of mobility in India?\u2019\u201d Krishnamurthy said, recalling a decade-old conversation with Aggarwal. \u201cHe started marking the percentage share on the back of his bathroom door.\u201d
Business flourished as urban Indians quickly adopted the service for commuting or running errands. When global rival Uber Technologies Inc. started operations in India in 2013, Aggarwal encouraged Ola\u2019s workers to try to outsmart the Silicon Valley company on every front \u2014 prioritizing outreach to government officials, public relations blitzes and support services for drivers.
Former employees said the startup was an exciting place to work at that time. Ola enlisted more than a million drivers and expanded to dozens of cities. At the end of 2014, Uber\u2019s India operation was set back by a gruesome crime in which a driver was arrested and later convicted of raping a passenger. At the same time, Ola steadily grew its market share. The company attracted investors from Temasek and Warburg Pincus and expanded internationally to the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
But by that point, a rift was widening within Ola, executives said in interviews. In 2017, Aggarwal founded Ola Electric and began exploring the capital-intensive business of making EVs. While he used the Ola brand for his new venture, the business was completely separate. Co-founder Bhati and nearly all early investors in ANI Technologies weren\u2019t part of the new company.
\u201cI thought it isn\u2019t fair to burden others when we\u2019re going into a very different business with capital intensity, debt profile and capability,\u201d Aggarwal said in the Bloomberg interview. \u201cThat\u2019s why investors were given a chance to opt-out. Whoever felt they wanted to invest has invested.\u201d
Building the Futurefactory<\/strong>
By 2020, Aggarwal was spending much of his time building Ola Electric. Typically, EV companies take at least a few years to make. Aggarwal wanted to cut that timetable to compete against local rivals such as the Bengaluru-based Ather Energy, which spent several years developing a battery and months making quality checks on 100 initial scooters before mass-producing its design.
Aggarwal devised a much shorter schedule. In March 2021, he stood on a barren stretch of land three hours outside Bengaluru, describing at a media gathering dreams to build a $330 million two-wheeler plant with a capacity of two million electric scooters in a matter of months. Aggarwal planned for ten lines with an annual capacity of 10 million scooters over two years. He hoped to export the vehicles to Europe and Latin America.
Six months later, the Futurefactory opened. By the end of 2021, the company\u2019s first scooter hit the market.
Rather than employing a dealership model, Ola Electric reached buyers through social media, a tactic no automaker had attempted before. Ola Electric\u2019s manufacturing process used innovative technology, including ultrasonic friction-welding to forge hundreds of connections between cells in each battery pack. During tours of the factory, Aggarwal liked to show off the noise-free assembly lines and robots that painted the scooters.
But it didn\u2019t take long for complaints to pile up on social media. Aggarwal and Ola Electric\u2019s Twitter feeds are filled with buyers upset about delivery delays, overheating batteries and scooters that catch fire. When Aggarwal recently asked his Twitter followers what cool scooter accessories they wanted, one responded, \u201cFire extinguisher.\u201d
Inside Ola Electric, employees said the culture has turned hostile over the last couple of years. In meetings, Aggarwal ripped up presentations because of a missing page number, directed Punjabi epithets at staff and called teams \u201cuseless,\u201d according to current and former employees. Executives said in interviews that meetings scheduled for an hour often lasted 10 minutes because Aggarwal would lose patience over a superfluous sentence in a memo, a crooked paper clip or the quality of printing paper.
Retention was a problem, particularly at the C-suite level. Some executives, including Zilingo\u2019s former chief financial officer Ramesh Bafna, decided not to join Ola Electric days after formally accepting employment offers. One business head, who has since departed the company, likened expectations at Ola Electric to \u201chaving to run a marathon like Usain Bolt,\u201d the world\u2019s greatest sprinter.
\u201cNot everybody is a fit for our culture,\u201d Aggarwal said when asked about his management style. \u201cThere\u2019s no world standard on an even, sterile work environment.\u201d
Bafna declined to comment.
Taking on the \u2018Big Boys Club\u2019<\/strong>
So far, the boards of both companies, which comprise the likes of SoftBank Group Corp., have said little in meetings about Aggarwal\u2019s approach to governance. But in interviews, some top executives who\u2019ve since departed raised concerns about the ethics of a share-swap deal with a startup founded by Aggarwal\u2019s younger brother, Ankush, who now heads Ola Electric\u2019s financial services unit.
There are also questions about valuation. Last year, as ANI Technologies prepared for an IPO, investors Warburg Pincus and Temasek Pte partook in a secondary transaction, causing the valuation to fall from around $6 billion to $3 billion, according to three people aware of the matter. They said early investors felt cheated. But only a few months later, after the company pulled together a series of deals for a primary round with investors including Edelweiss<\/a>, ANI Technologies\u2019 valuation soared to $7.3 billion.
Ola didn\u2019t respond to questions about the acquisition or valuation swings. In the Bloomberg interview, Aggarwal didn\u2019t directly address either issue but attributed some of the scrutiny to jealous rivals.
\u201cThe incumbents in the auto industry are the Big Boys Club,\u201d he said. \u201cThey left the door open for an upstart like me. My question back to them is, \u2018What were they doing? Why is India not leading electrification of vehicles?\u2019\u201d
Ola Electric\u2019s business challenges have become clearer in recent months. Scooter sales have yet to take off. Vehicle registrations fell 35% in July compared with June, according to Business Standard newspaper. Ola Electric sold a little over 45,000 units by July of this year based on vehicle registration data \u2014 far less than what the factory can produce and below the 1 million reservations received when booking opened last December.
But after supply chain disruptions and maintenance issues, Aggarwal said production is now rising at the Futurefactory. He pointed to Ola Electric\u2019s unique advantages, including an end-to-end play in ride-sharing, auto retail financing and insurance of vehicles. At a company event in mid-August to unveil its electric car, Ola Electric branded itself \u201cIndia\u2019s largest\u201d EV company making the \u201cworld\u2019s best\u201d electric scooter.
Whether Ola Electric succeeds or not, Aggarwal\u2019s admirers seem to agree that he has turbo-charged the EV market, pulling in millions of investment dollars. Despite the risks, Aggarwal said he prefers to take the long view and push ahead with a lofty goal: to build millions of affordable vehicles for India and, eventually, the world.
\u201cGrowing up, we constantly heard that India is a developing country,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s our generation\u2019s destiny to change this and now is the time. I take both the responsibility and the opportunity seriously.\u201d
<\/div><\/div>
India's EV market is expected to reach more than $150 billion by the end of the decade, or roughly 400 times its current size, according to Research and Markets. Just a few months after Ola\u2019s electric two-wheeler hit the market last December, Aggarwal started tweeting teasing glimpses of the company\u2019s car design and a new battery innovation center. He has zealously pushed to upend India\u2019s tradition-bound automobile industry, which for decades has been dominated by conglomerates like Tata and Mahindra.
\u201cBy seeking to pull off something big in the EV industry, Bhavish Aggarwal aspires for the world stage,\u201d said Neha Singh, co-founder of Tracxn Technologies, a Bengaluru-based firm that tracks startups. However, after some initial success, \u201cOla still has to cover a huge distance to make electric vehicles a mass market in India.\u201d
In the Bloomberg interview, Aggarwal said he wants to build companies with lasting impact, even if that means rubbing some people the wrong way. He said India can surpass rivals not just by making cheaper EVs, but also by cultivating a global footprint in 5G, green energy and sustainable mobility. Progress in achieving those goals, he said, is \u201cthe yardstick the world should judge us by.\u201d
\u201cThere\u2019s no major success without sweat and tears,\u201d he said.
A \u2018Quick Learner\u2019<\/strong>
Aggarwal started his business career more than a decade ago in ride-sharing.
After completing an engineering degree and a stint at Microsoft Corp., he founded Ola in 2010 with Ankit Bhati, a classmate at the premier Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai. The company, incorporated as ANI Technologies Pvt, originally provided cabs for tour groups, but soon pivoted to ride-hailing. At that time, most Indians relied on spotty neighborhood cab services.
TVG Krishnamurthy, 78, a board member of ANI Technologies, called Aggarwal a \u201cquick learner\u201d with the unique ability to \u201cfocus at once on the grass growing on the ground and the flowers at the top of the tree.\u201d
\u201cOne Sunday, we were chatting and he asked, \u2018What would Ola\u2019s share be in all of mobility in India?\u2019\u201d Krishnamurthy said, recalling a decade-old conversation with Aggarwal. \u201cHe started marking the percentage share on the back of his bathroom door.\u201d
Business flourished as urban Indians quickly adopted the service for commuting or running errands. When global rival Uber Technologies Inc. started operations in India in 2013, Aggarwal encouraged Ola\u2019s workers to try to outsmart the Silicon Valley company on every front \u2014 prioritizing outreach to government officials, public relations blitzes and support services for drivers.
Former employees said the startup was an exciting place to work at that time. Ola enlisted more than a million drivers and expanded to dozens of cities. At the end of 2014, Uber\u2019s India operation was set back by a gruesome crime in which a driver was arrested and later convicted of raping a passenger. At the same time, Ola steadily grew its market share. The company attracted investors from Temasek and Warburg Pincus and expanded internationally to the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
But by that point, a rift was widening within Ola, executives said in interviews. In 2017, Aggarwal founded Ola Electric and began exploring the capital-intensive business of making EVs. While he used the Ola brand for his new venture, the business was completely separate. Co-founder Bhati and nearly all early investors in ANI Technologies weren\u2019t part of the new company.
\u201cI thought it isn\u2019t fair to burden others when we\u2019re going into a very different business with capital intensity, debt profile and capability,\u201d Aggarwal said in the Bloomberg interview. \u201cThat\u2019s why investors were given a chance to opt-out. Whoever felt they wanted to invest has invested.\u201d
Building the Futurefactory<\/strong>
By 2020, Aggarwal was spending much of his time building Ola Electric. Typically, EV companies take at least a few years to make. Aggarwal wanted to cut that timetable to compete against local rivals such as the Bengaluru-based Ather Energy, which spent several years developing a battery and months making quality checks on 100 initial scooters before mass-producing its design.
Aggarwal devised a much shorter schedule. In March 2021, he stood on a barren stretch of land three hours outside Bengaluru, describing at a media gathering dreams to build a $330 million two-wheeler plant with a capacity of two million electric scooters in a matter of months. Aggarwal planned for ten lines with an annual capacity of 10 million scooters over two years. He hoped to export the vehicles to Europe and Latin America.
Six months later, the Futurefactory opened. By the end of 2021, the company\u2019s first scooter hit the market.
Rather than employing a dealership model, Ola Electric reached buyers through social media, a tactic no automaker had attempted before. Ola Electric\u2019s manufacturing process used innovative technology, including ultrasonic friction-welding to forge hundreds of connections between cells in each battery pack. During tours of the factory, Aggarwal liked to show off the noise-free assembly lines and robots that painted the scooters.
But it didn\u2019t take long for complaints to pile up on social media. Aggarwal and Ola Electric\u2019s Twitter feeds are filled with buyers upset about delivery delays, overheating batteries and scooters that catch fire. When Aggarwal recently asked his Twitter followers what cool scooter accessories they wanted, one responded, \u201cFire extinguisher.\u201d
Inside Ola Electric, employees said the culture has turned hostile over the last couple of years. In meetings, Aggarwal ripped up presentations because of a missing page number, directed Punjabi epithets at staff and called teams \u201cuseless,\u201d according to current and former employees. Executives said in interviews that meetings scheduled for an hour often lasted 10 minutes because Aggarwal would lose patience over a superfluous sentence in a memo, a crooked paper clip or the quality of printing paper.
Retention was a problem, particularly at the C-suite level. Some executives, including Zilingo\u2019s former chief financial officer Ramesh Bafna, decided not to join Ola Electric days after formally accepting employment offers. One business head, who has since departed the company, likened expectations at Ola Electric to \u201chaving to run a marathon like Usain Bolt,\u201d the world\u2019s greatest sprinter.
\u201cNot everybody is a fit for our culture,\u201d Aggarwal said when asked about his management style. \u201cThere\u2019s no world standard on an even, sterile work environment.\u201d
Bafna declined to comment.
Taking on the \u2018Big Boys Club\u2019<\/strong>
So far, the boards of both companies, which comprise the likes of SoftBank Group Corp., have said little in meetings about Aggarwal\u2019s approach to governance. But in interviews, some top executives who\u2019ve since departed raised concerns about the ethics of a share-swap deal with a startup founded by Aggarwal\u2019s younger brother, Ankush, who now heads Ola Electric\u2019s financial services unit.
There are also questions about valuation. Last year, as ANI Technologies prepared for an IPO, investors Warburg Pincus and Temasek Pte partook in a secondary transaction, causing the valuation to fall from around $6 billion to $3 billion, according to three people aware of the matter. They said early investors felt cheated. But only a few months later, after the company pulled together a series of deals for a primary round with investors including Edelweiss<\/a>, ANI Technologies\u2019 valuation soared to $7.3 billion.
Ola didn\u2019t respond to questions about the acquisition or valuation swings. In the Bloomberg interview, Aggarwal didn\u2019t directly address either issue but attributed some of the scrutiny to jealous rivals.
\u201cThe incumbents in the auto industry are the Big Boys Club,\u201d he said. \u201cThey left the door open for an upstart like me. My question back to them is, \u2018What were they doing? Why is India not leading electrification of vehicles?\u2019\u201d
Ola Electric\u2019s business challenges have become clearer in recent months. Scooter sales have yet to take off. Vehicle registrations fell 35% in July compared with June, according to Business Standard newspaper. Ola Electric sold a little over 45,000 units by July of this year based on vehicle registration data \u2014 far less than what the factory can produce and below the 1 million reservations received when booking opened last December.
But after supply chain disruptions and maintenance issues, Aggarwal said production is now rising at the Futurefactory. He pointed to Ola Electric\u2019s unique advantages, including an end-to-end play in ride-sharing, auto retail financing and insurance of vehicles. At a company event in mid-August to unveil its electric car, Ola Electric branded itself \u201cIndia\u2019s largest\u201d EV company making the \u201cworld\u2019s best\u201d electric scooter.
Whether Ola Electric succeeds or not, Aggarwal\u2019s admirers seem to agree that he has turbo-charged the EV market, pulling in millions of investment dollars. Despite the risks, Aggarwal said he prefers to take the long view and push ahead with a lofty goal: to build millions of affordable vehicles for India and, eventually, the world.
\u201cGrowing up, we constantly heard that India is a developing country,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s our generation\u2019s destiny to change this and now is the time. I take both the responsibility and the opportunity seriously.\u201d
<\/div><\/div>
Follow and connect with us on Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Linkedin<\/a>, Youtube<\/a><\/div>","NumberOfSentences":{"minfo":"105.0","minfoseo":"105-0"},"AutomatedReadabilityIndex":{"minfo":"14.0","minfoseo":"14-0"},"LastPublishMilliTime":{"minfo":"1665974443596","minfoseo":"1665974443596"},"ReadabilityGradeLevel":{"minfo":"College","minfoseo":"college"},"GadgetsMarkedReviewed":{"minfo":"0","minfoseo":"0"},"HashCode":{"minfo":"1777398352","minfoseo":"1777398352"},"latestnewsflag":{"minfo":"1.0","minfoseo":"1-0"},"NumberOfCharacters":{"minfo":"12597.0","minfoseo":"12597-0"},"ImageCreditAuthor":{"minfo":"Saritha Rai","minfoseo":"saritha-rai"},"NumberOfWords":{"minfo":"1980.0","minfoseo":"1980-0"},"key":[{"keyid":"1543567","value":"bhavish aggarwal","smid":"0","keynameseo":"bhavish-aggarwal","keytype":"","keycount":"totalcount","weightage":"100"},{"keyid":"107096","value":"tesla","smid":"0","keynameseo":"tesla","keytype":"","keycount":"totalcount","weightage":"20"},{"keyid":"4393078","value":"ola electric","smid":"0","keynameseo":"ola-electric","keytype":"","keycount":"totalcount","weightage":"20"},{"keyid":"6362049","value":"ola cabs","smid":"0","keynameseo":"ola-cabs","keytype":"","keycount":"totalcount","weightage":"20"},{"keyid":"6355315","value":"elon musk","smid":"0","keynameseo":"elon-musk","keytype":"","keycount":"totalcount","weightage":"20"},{"keyid":"6358835","value":"electric cars","smid":"0","keynameseo":"electric-cars","keytype":"","keycount":"totalcount","weightage":"20"},{"keyid":"46249","value":"edelweiss","smid":"0","keynameseo":"edelweiss","keytype":"","keycount":"totalcount","weightage":"20"}],"authorsplit":[],"similarlytagged":[{"msid":"94905104","stname":"Can Bhavish Aggarwal become India\u2019s answer to Musk or will he collapse?","artsyn":"In his twenties, the founder of India\u2019s largest ride-sharing company held off deep-pocketed rival Uber to remain the country\u2019s top brand. Now, Aggarwal wants his Ola Electric Mobility Pvt Ltd to displace Elon Musk\u2019s Tesla Inc and China\u2019s BYD Co. as the industry leader for electric vehicles by carving out a niche in lower cost designs.","seolocation":"two-wheelers\/scooters-mopeds\/can-bhavish-aggarwal-become-indias-answer-to-musk-or-will-he-collapse","seolocationalt":"Can Bhavish Aggarwal become India\u2019s answer to Musk or will he collapse?","url_seo":"two-wheelers\/scooters-mopeds\/can-bhavish-aggarwal-become-indias-answer-to-musk-or-will-he-collapse"},{"msid":"94279696","stname":"Ola Electric opens retail stores for selling scooters","artsyn":"ET reported on July 29 that the company had held internal competition to increase sales by allocating different regions to key executives within Ola.","seolocation":"two-wheelers\/scooters-mopeds\/ola-electric-opens-retail-stores-for-selling-scooters","seolocationalt":"Ola Electric opens retail stores for selling scooters","url_seo":"two-wheelers\/scooters-mopeds\/ola-electric-opens-retail-stores-for-selling-scooters"},{"msid":"93608450","stname":"Ola to expand Tamil Nadu future factory into EV hub","artsyn":"Ola Electric has announced mega plans to scale up its business with a foray into electric cars, introducing new e-two wheeler models and scaling up lithium ion cell manufacturing.","seolocation":"industry\/ola-to-expand-tamil-nadu-future-factory-into-ev-hub","seolocationalt":"Ola to expand Tamil Nadu future factory into EV hub","url_seo":"industry\/ola-to-expand-tamil-nadu-future-factory-into-ev-hub"},{"msid":"93604820","stname":"Can Bhavish Aggarwal pull off his electric car dream amid harsh ground realities?","artsyn":"Aggarwal has pressed the EV accelerator hard while Ola's electric two-wheeler sales are now going south. In July, Ola Electric sold 3,861 vehicles, a significant drop from 5,891 vehicles in the month of June. The figures are dropping with each passing month.","seolocation":"passenger-vehicle\/cars\/can-bhavish-aggarwal-pull-off-his-electric-car-dream-amid-harsh-ground-realities","seolocationalt":"Can Bhavish Aggarwal pull off his electric car dream amid harsh ground realities?","url_seo":"passenger-vehicle\/cars\/can-bhavish-aggarwal-pull-off-his-electric-car-dream-amid-harsh-ground-realities"},{"msid":"93365704","stname":"Ola electric car likely to unveil on 15th August","artsyn":"The brand has already revealed its plan of making electric cars in the near future and tweeted about the same a few months ago. The CEO of Ola , Bhavish Aggarwal post reads as, \u201cSuper excited to announce a new product this 15th August! Will also share more about our BIG future plans!!\u201d","seolocation":"passenger-vehicle\/cars\/ola-electric-car-likely-to-unveil-on-15th-august","seolocationalt":"Ola electric car likely to unveil on 15th August","url_seo":"passenger-vehicle\/cars\/ola-electric-car-likely-to-unveil-on-15th-august"},{"msid":"93218655","stname":"India's Ola and Uber deny report of merger talks","artsyn":"The two companies have been slugging it out in an intensely competitive Indian market and have spent billions in incentives and discounts to passengers.","seolocation":"aftermarket\/indias-ola-and-uber-deny-report-of-merger-talks","seolocationalt":"India's Ola and Uber deny report of merger talks","url_seo":"aftermarket\/indias-ola-and-uber-deny-report-of-merger-talks"},{"msid":"92825411","stname":"Ola Electric introduces indigenously developed li-ion cell, mass production to begin in 2023","artsyn":"According to the company, the state of the art High Nickel Cylindrical Ola Cell uses NMC on the cathode side; and Graphite and Silicon on the Anode side. The use of specific chemistry & materials enables the cell to pack more energy in a given space and also improves the overall life cycle of the cell. The cell has been developed keeping the indigenous conditions at the core.","seolocation":"auto-components\/ola-electric-unveils-lithium-ion-cell-mass-production-to-begin-by-2023","seolocationalt":"Ola Electric introduces indigenously developed li-ion cell, mass production to begin in 2023","url_seo":"auto-components\/ola-electric-unveils-lithium-ion-cell-mass-production-to-begin-by-2023"},{"msid":"92753540","stname":"Ola starts handing pink slips, defers appraisal","artsyn":"The SoftBank-backed firm has started laying off employees across functions, said people in the know, but did not share the number of job cuts. 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If UP wins the race, the factory could come up in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency in Varanasi.","seolocation":"passenger-vehicle\/cars\/ola-scouts-for-land-for-electric-car-project-6-big-states-in-the-fray","seolocationalt":"Ola scouts for land for electric car project, 6 big states in the fray","url_seo":"passenger-vehicle\/cars\/ola-scouts-for-land-for-electric-car-project-6-big-states-in-the-fray"},{"msid":"91811739","stname":"Here is how you can get an Ola electric scooter for free","artsyn":"The Bengaluru-based company has been attempting to regain user trust after the recent incidents of fire on its electric scooters.","seolocation":"two-wheelers\/scooters-mopeds\/here-is-how-you-can-get-an-ola-electric-scooter-for-free","seolocationalt":"Here is how you can get an Ola electric scooter for free","url_seo":"two-wheelers\/scooters-mopeds\/here-is-how-you-can-get-an-ola-electric-scooter-for-free"},{"msid":"91745594","stname":"Ola Electric starts deliveries of units bought in latest purchase window","artsyn":"\"Deliveries now happening in under 24hours from purchase! Great work by the @OlaElectric team. Most other brands have months waiting. Even registrations take a few days in dealerships. The future is here, be a part of it!,\" Aggarwal tweeted.","seolocation":"two-wheelers\/scooters-mopeds\/ola-electric-starts-deliveries-of-units-bought-in-latest-purchase-window","seolocationalt":"Ola Electric starts deliveries of units bought in latest purchase window","url_seo":"two-wheelers\/scooters-mopeds\/ola-electric-starts-deliveries-of-units-bought-in-latest-purchase-window"},{"msid":"91705189","stname":"Ola Electric hikes price of flagship S1 Pro scooter","artsyn":"The S1 Pro now comes in at Rs 1,20,149 (ex-showroom Delhi, including FAME-II and state subsidies)\/ Rs 1.40 lakh (ex-showroom), and is Rs 10,000 costlier than before. 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