In a high-profile management exit at Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ola Electrics, head of advanced battery engineering, Ashok Saraswat has resigned from his current role. Saraswat joined SoftBank-backed Ola last year, and is reported to join a company that is entering the battery business.
In recent months more than half a dozen senior executives have quit Ola Electric after Bhavish Aggarwal-led EV maker revealed plans to develop indigenous cells and batteries in the country. Last month, Ola Electric announced to invest $500 million for setting up its state of the art Battery Innovation Centre (BIC) in Bengaluru.
According to Ola, the new innovation centre will have capabilities to develop complete packages of battery pack design, fabrication and testing under one roof.
The company also announced that it will recruit top global talent including 500 PhDs and engineers who will be supported by an “additional 1,000 researchers in India and multiple other global centres.”
Ola recently unveiled its first Li-ion cell, saying it will begin the mass production of its cell from its upcoming Gigafactory by 2023.
Earlier last month Yashwant Kumar, Senior Director and Business Head for Charging Networks at the company, decided to move on. Kumar, a B.Tech engineer from IIT -Bombay joined Ola Electric in March last year.
While in June, Ola Electric’s Director HR, Ranjit Kondeshan quit, Nidhi Chaturvedi Jha quit Ola Electric as regional head in May and joined Amazon. In April, chief marketing officer Varun Dubey left the company due to ‘personal reasons’.
Earlier, Dinesh Radhakrishnan, who was the chief technology officer (CTO) at Ola Electric, moved on from the company. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was appointed CTO at Ola Electric in May last year.
