Bhavish Aggarwal has parked the Ola Electric car
The controversial EV manufacturer’s most ambitious project—meant to launch next year—seems to have been an empty promise. What happened?
7 March, 2023•11 min
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7 March, 2023•11 min
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Editor's note: 15 August 2022. Seventy-five years of India’s independence. In a livestream on YouTube that day, Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder and CEO of Ola Electric, called for an electric vehicle revolution in India. Joining his army of S1 Pro scooters in this revolution was the new S1 scooter, a new battery and the much-awaited Ola Electric car that was “set to arrive” in 2024. Cut to 9 February 2023. In a six-minute video, Aggarwal announced new variants of both the S1 and S1 Air range of scooters. He ended the presentation with a teaser of electric motorcycles, without divulging details. But there was something amiss. There was no mention of the electric car, the most ambitious project that Aggarwal—and Ola Electric—had embarked upon a few months ago. “There is no car,” says a former executive, requesting anonymity. “I can’t say if it is shut down or slowed. But there is no hiring in that division and no work is being done. They have moved their focus to motorcycles.” A second former executive concurs. “The electric car project is on the back …
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