Ola Electric appoints GM veteran to set up its manufacturing plants in India

Moving rapidly ahead with its global electric mobility plans, Ola today announced it has roped in GM veteran Jose Pinheiro as its Head of Global Manufacturing and Operations for its Electric Business. In May this year, Ola Electric acquired the Amsterdam-based Etergo to launch an electric two-wheeler for India in 2021.

Founded in 2014, Etergo has developed an all-electric state-of-the-art AppScooter, which has won multiple awards across the world for its innovative design and engineering at CES 2019 and Automotive Brand Contest, Germany amongst others. First revealed in 2018, the AppScooter uses swappable high energy density batteries to deliver a range up to 240km and class-leading acceleration of 0-45kph in 3.9 seconds. It has many firsts including a seamless design, unique removable banana battery that is easy to carry and can be charged anywhere. Ola says it plans to bring many such design and software innovations to its entire product line of two-wheelers as they come to market in the coming months.

Manager of 16 GM industrial complexes
In his new role, Jose will spearhead Ola’s ambitions to build world-class manufacturing facilities starting with the world’s largest scooter factory, and then expanding to multiple such facilities across India. These manufacturing facilities will enable Ola to rapidly bring to market its wide range of two-wheeler products currently under development.

A manufacturing veteran, Jose was earlier the vice-president of Manufacturing for General Motors Latin America, based out of Sao Paulo and brings over 45 years of leadership experience. As the VP, Jose managed 16 GM industrial complexes across 9 countries, 2 continents and 5 languages. In his 45-year career, he has held diverse portfolios across the company including Body Shop Process Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Plant Operations, Director of Manufacturing, and then Vice- President of Manufacturing for the region.

Jose’s deep manufacturing expertise will be critical in building Ola’s entire range of two-wheeler products, starting with the soon-to-be-launched electric scooter.

Ola’s first electric scooter, which has already won several prestigious design and innovation awards around the world including Marketing Innovation award at CES and the German Design Award, features

Bhavish Aggarwal, chairman and Group CEO, Ola said “I am excited to have Jose join our leadership team at Ola. His deep domain expertise will help us deliver the game-changing Ola electric scooter at scale and will help catalyse the Indian EV ecosystem. At Ola, we will continue to strive towards building in India for India and the world. I look forward to working closely with Jose to build our world- class manufacturing facilities and accelerate the world’s movement towards sustainable mobility.”

Speaking on his appointment, Jose Pinheiro, Head, Global Manufacturing & Operations, Electric Mobility, Ola said “I am thrilled to join Ola Electric and be part of this inspiring vision. I look forward to collaborating with this incredible team and building a world-class manufacturing facility to deliver Ola’s range of electric two-wheelers including the upcoming electric scooter. The rapid pace of progress at Ola is impressive and energising and I am looking forward to contributing to Ola’s mission of sustainable mobility. More than anything else I am very excited to be in India and work with this passionate group of people.”