Ola was supposed to be the company that would take electric mobility from being a yuppie lifestyle choice in select cities to a realistic personal transportation option across the length and breadth of the country.
   
All of a sudden, it is facing an investigation by the Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES), an entity under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Spark #1: 
Deployment of scooters without adequate road testing and QC. Acquiring Dutch company Etergo for its Appscooter was an easy way out for Bhavish Aggarwal. It spared him from investing time into developing a scooter from scratch. He got a sweet European design and could focus on scaling the company up as fast as he wanted to, rather than invest time, resources, and energy to design it on a blank sheet of paper. End result? Fire!

Spark #2:
Lack of a reliable BMS (Battery Management System). A battery-management system (BMS) is critical for electric vehicles, as it determines how the battery should accept charge as well as how it discharges. The algorithms that calculate this take their cues from sensors spread across the battery pack, which among other inputs, look at data around heat produced and execute remedial measures. The company claims that it has used its own BMS across the scooters that have been built and delivered. But insiders tells ET Prime that for initial batches of their scooters, Ola may have considered turning to a third-party solution, as its own BMS was not ready to be shipped in time for delivery. The current BMS in an OLA scooter doesn’t work. It misfires! 

It’s time OLA takes a step back and rectifies its mistakes! They cannot be the reason why we the common people stop believing in dreams and building a better and cleaner future together. 

We strongly urge the company to stop sales and push for fixing all issues!

The government has to act!