When a hero product begins to wobble, the founder’s first instinct is almost always the same: pull the pivot lever. That’s exactly the crossroads where Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola Electric is finding himself standing. And he has been swift in pivoting. In October, Aggarwal launched Ola Shakti, a residential battery energy storage system (BESS).

The device, which uses Ola’s in-house 4680 Bharat Cells, has been built to provide power backup to residential units, farms, and commercial purposes.

But why this pivot from an EV maker, one may ask?

Well, once celebrated as India’s largest electric vehicle maker, with a commanding 30% market share, Ola Electric’s state of affairs is in complete shambles. The company has lost its leadership position, thanks to its shrinking monthly unit sales, which it acknowledges could fall even further. Then, raising fresh capital has become challenging for the EV maker.

The tension is clearly visible. While its losses continued to take a toll on its balance sheet, compounded with falling revenues, its cash balance dropped to INR 2,903 Cr in Q2 FY26 from INR 3,959 Cr in March 2025.

This erosion has bit Ola Electric, and Aggarwal has been forced to shift his narrative and capital towards an ancillary business that he hopes will eventually reduce costs and offset slowing scooter demand.

While the future holds the answer to whether the bet will eventually pay off, let’s trace how the EV juggernaut skidded out of the fast lane.

The EV Rocket That Lost Its Grip

For years, Ola Electric symbolised India’s EV two wheeler revolution. Despite arriving later than its Bengaluru rival........

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