Ola Electric Global Service Head leaves his post and joins TVS Motor, Auto News, ET Auto

New Delhi: Ashish Thakur, head of global services at Bangalore-based electric vehicle maker Ola Electric, left the company last month. He was instrumental in establishing Ola’s service department and building the D2C business model.

According to his profile on professional networking site LinkedIn, Thakur has over 26 years of experience in the field. He resigned in less than 3 years from Ola, which manufactures the S1 series of electric scooters. Before joining the electric vehicle maker in March 2022, he was associated with Maruti Suzuki for over 23 years, where he worked as a regional and zonal department head across several territories in the country.

Thakur has now joined TVS Motor Company as Associate Vice President of Customer Service and Support for its EV business.

It is worth noting that as competition intensifies in the electric two-wheeler sector in India, OEMs are strengthening their grip on the entire ecosystem. Ola Electric is the market leader in terms of volumes, closely followed by established two-wheeler manufacturers TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto. However, Ola’s market share has declined sharply in the previous months, due to increased competition.

In June, ETAuto announced the resignation of Ola’s head of indirect procurement.

Over the past few months, Ola, led by Bhavish Aggarwal, has been handling a growing number of customer complaints related to service issues. The electric scooter maker’s service centers have been overwhelmed by around 80,000 complaints per month, leading to long wait times, overworked staff and growing customer dissatisfaction.

The issue also gained momentum after a recent social media exchange between Aggarwal and comedian Kunal Kamra on the X platform (formerly Twitter). The exchange began when Kamra highlighted the problems faced by customers regarding Ola Electric’s service quality.

In October, the company came under scrutiny after the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) issued a show cause notice to Ola Electric, for alleged violation of consumer rights, misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices. This followed a wave of more than 10,000 complaints received on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH).

After receiving a show cause notice, Ola Electric claimed to have resolved 99.1% of its customers’ issues. However, this claim was found to be incorrect following a cross-check by the CCPA.

According to the latest reports, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has issued a new order and directed the Director General (DG) of Investigations, an investigative arm of the CCPA, to conduct a detailed investigation into Ola Electric.

Electric two-wheelers account for the largest share of India’s electric vehicle sector. During the January-October 2024 period, the segment recorded sales of 9.54 lakh units, compared to 6.92 lakh units during the corresponding period last year.

Going forward, this segment is expected to further intensify as many players launch products in different price points and specifications to meet the growing customer demand.