Ola Electric to hire 2,000 people globally, launch e-scooter soon

Ola Electric Mobility (OEM) plans to hire 2,000 people globally, including engineers and for other roles, over the next six months and will introduce an electric two-wheeler soon, a note by Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal said.

In an email to employees on Tuesday, Aggarwal - who is also the Founder and Chairman of Ola Electric (the EV arm of Ola) - said the automotive industry has evolved significantly over the last few months, and the future belongs to electric and connected mobility.

"...we will be launching a large hiring initiative to hire over 1,000 engineers globally over the next quarter and another 1,000 people across other functions. We want to get the best talent to come and join us across all teams...," he added.

When contacted, an Ola spokesperson confirmed that the company intends to hire 2,000 people across various roles including software, vehicle design, and engineering and battery technology, as part of its plans to scale up operations and launch electric vehicles for global markets.

In May this year, ride hailing major Ola had announced laying off 1,400 employees from rides, financial services and foods business as its revenues had declined due to coronavirus pandemic-induced lockdowns.

In the same month, Ola Electric also announced the acquisition of Amsterdam-based Etergo BV for an undisclosed amount.

"The talented team at Etergo joined us in May, and everyone is working hard to launch our first product, the electric 2W (two-wheeler) very soon. Looking forward, our aim is to build electric vehicle products and the required BaaS (battery as a service) systems for a global market and across all product segments. We will soon be launching many new programs towards this," Aggarwal said in his mail on Tuesday.

Aggarwal noted that OEM would be undertaking an organisational restructuring "to be more productive and effective" and the process will be executed over the next two weeks.

Ola Electric has previously stated that it plans to set up extensive charging and swapping networks around India and is currently running several pilots to deploy electric vehicles and charging solutions across cities with a focus on two and three-wheelers.

Ola Electric was initially established to enable Ola's electric mobility pilot programme in Nagpur in 2017. It was later carved out as a separate entity in 2018.

It had received USD 250 million funding from SoftBank last year and raised ₹400 crore in a funding round led by Tiger Global and Matrix India. The entity is also backed by Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata.