Ola ropes in Jose Pinheiro to head global manufacturing and operations for EV business

Ola, the country’s leading mobility platform is looking to make gains in its global electric mobility plans and has appointed Jose Pinheiro as the head of global manufacturing and operations for its electric vehicle business.

Pinheiro 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. In his role Pinheiro managed 16 GM industrial complexes across 9 countries, 2 continents and 5 languages. The company says his deep manufacturing expertise will be critical in building Ola’s entire range of two-wheeler products, starting with the soon to launch electric Scooter. It may be recollected that in May 2020, Ola had acquired Amsterdam-based Etergo scooter and announced its ambition to launch an electric scooter in India in 2021.

In his new role he 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.

Ola says its 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 many firsts including a seamless design, unique removable banana battery (pictured above) that is easy to carry and can be charged anywhere. Ola 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.

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.”

Jose Pinheiro 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.”

In his career spanning over 45-years Pinheiro 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.