Electric dreams and two-wheeled freedom machines
Akshay and his story of helping Orxa build the Mantis!
His penchant for motorcycles, especially sporty ones, is evident by his Facebook & Instagram stories. Every snap of his with a roadster on the popular social media platforms is a personification of his love for them.
Akshay Tippannavar joined us at Orxa as a Mechanical Engineering Intern during his last semester in college. His remarkable performance during the internship period has already helped him secure a seat on the full-time employee bandwagon.
Akshay: the origin story!
Hailing from the quaint city of Bagalkot (‘Beautiful Bagalkot’!), Northern Karnataka, Akshay always wanted to do something in the field of automobiles. Curious about the working of machines inside them, he joined mechanical engineering to indulge himself. He did exceptionally well in his first year, scoring well above 9 SGPA, but soon realized he wasn’t actually gaining anything.
“I had enough of theory. I started doing mechatronics internships — basically anything that would help develop my practical knowledge. It was then that I came across Stier Racing, my college’s on-road EV racing team.”
His eyes gleam with excitement as he unlocks his phone to show pictures of the vehicle he had helped design.
“I and my team designed the race car from scratch. We were working on an electric vehicle, a concept we knew very little about. We started researching and had even contacted Orxa Energies for knowledge sharing purposes then, as they were doing something similar in that field. During the process, I learned about the importance of batteries in an EV, and I have been hooked on to them ever since.”
“We went on to secure the 2nd prize in the Formula Green competition that year (2018). But the idea of EVs stuck to my mind. I, then, started looking into EV companies manufacturing motorcycles in and around Bengaluru. And that’s how I came back to Orxa Energies. And the plus point was that they individually focused on batteries too!” — he smiles.
We don’t have a 9–5 grind & rigid dress-codes, but…
At Orxa Energies, Akshay predominantly works on the mechanical side of our battery packs, which go into vehicles all over the country, and of course, on the Mantis, our early performance electric motorcycle which we’ll soon be launching into the market.
“My internship months here have been quite memorable. I have learnt a lot of things. The company exceeds the expectations I had for a startup of its size. The hands-on experience that I am receiving and the intense discussions we have among the different teams — everything is organized and the processes have been set keeping long term goals in mind.”
“We might not have a 9–5 grind, rigid dress-codes, but it doesn’t mean that our expectations from our employees are less. Startups promote a unique growth opportunity, where one might get to handle more diverse roles from the very beginning when compared to an average corporate employee”. Just as with Akshay, who is also involved in the electronics team in addition to the mechanical team! Kudos to him!
“People are fun here, but they are smart too, and meet their deadlines always. Work is coordinated between different teams & people do their assigned tasks. Each person gets their say and is given importance to. The interactions with people with different levels of experience is an added advantage. Orxa is like the team that you wish to get in your college but never do. But I did — now,” he smirks ;)
“Adding to that, it seems Orxa has properly amended Steve Jobs’ words into something that makes more sense in today’s world — It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do. It makes more sense to hire smart people and train them enough so they start telling you what to do.”
It makes more sense to hire smart people and train them enough so they start telling you what to do
“When I first joined, my colleagues in charge of guiding me demonstrated everything that I had to do. They answered all my questions and even if I committed mistakes, I was forgiven as I was still learning. I have been shown & taught everything so well that I can do things on my own pretty well now. In addition, I have also learned the essential skills of negotiating and dealing with vendors.”
What do you wish others knew about Orxa?
“A lot of things! I believe we are totally focused on technology without compromise. People should know how determined we are on making and sourcing parts locally — in India itself. Also, the X in Orxa is silent!”. Yes! It’s pronounced “aur-haa”.
The X in Orxa is silent!”. It’s pronounced “Aur-Haa”!
“The electric sports segment is steadily coming up, and it’s very exciting for all bike enthusiasts like me. What guys like me look for the most is acceleration. And electric motorcycles give that beautifully in the form of instant torque, which is almost unmatchable even when it comes to heavily powered petrol bikes.”
The torque delivery is an aspect of engines that has become a high priority in performance vehicles in recent years. Customers want maximum torque as quickly and for as long as possible, which has forced manufacturers to look into different ways of manipulating the older technology of combustion engines. But EVs, such as our Mantis, give maximum torque from the get-go because of the presence of electric motors.
“My parents might not know the critical details of what I am doing at Orxa, but they know that I work in an ‘EV’ company, a clean energy company trying to push an alternative to polluting fuel vehicles.”
The Budget 2019’s proposal for subsidies and tax concessions for electric vehicles. This made a lot of unaware people to sit up and notice. Hopefully, this leads to an increase in awareness and clears the air surrounding electric vehicles.
In the near future, Akshay sees fuel vehicles outdated, and the world going full-electric, with massive improvements in battery costs, performance, and efficiency. He also sees himself working on and helping Orxa build ’n’ number of batteries and vehicles every day soon. We too, Akshay, we too!
When asked about his best memories at Orxa yet, he says, “Working on and helping make the Mantis possible, and the exciting thought of being the first ones in the entire world to ride it!”.
“To the people who wish to take the path I took, I would suggest you get involved in building things yourself. Hardware is all practical, and that’s the knowledge you should try to gain. You will always commit mistakes the first time, and that’s how you will learn.”
The entire automotive industry is about to change according to Akshay, and we can’t agree more. Being a startup in the slowly-rising-to-fame EV industry, we are doing our part in pushing the electric agenda and making people aware about the advantages of using EVs in a quickly deteriorating world due to the rise in pollution and hence, temperatures.
- Read the cover article of this series here: You need unstoppable people in your team
- Read Shahzer’s journey from BAJA to the Mantis here
- Read Tarun’s journey to Spain and Back via Vagator here
Do you want to help Akshay and us build crazy, high-end electric motorcycles and rapidly electrify all transport? Join us by dropping a mail at careers@orxaenergies.com, or browse -
..and check which JD fits you the best!
We are excitedly looking forward to having more bike and machine enthusiasts on the team! Don’t make us wait!
Orxa Energies’ mission is to rapidly electrify all transport. We build performance Electric Vehicles & the associated Energy Ecosystem. We believe that battery swap will rapidly electrify shared mobility. Our first vehicle is the Mantis — a fully-electric performance motorcycle, designed to fit seamlessly into your lifestyle.
We also build powerful Battery Packs that manage the specific challenges of performance vehicles — longevity, thermals, weight, and volume. Our battery packs are already in pilots with our customers.
We previously wrote about the issues faced by hardware startups in a software-obsessed startup ecosystem (link), and about our survival guide for other hardware startups getting into this space (link).
