Hyderabad-headquartered cargo EV OEM Etrio Automobiles Pvt. Ltd. has announced the appointment of Gopala Rao Uppala as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Gopala is a veteran EV engineering leader having close to two decades of industry experience and expertise spanning across EV Architecture Design, Electric Motor Design and Development, EV Powertrains, Battery Pack Design & Development, Product Design & Lifecycle Management and Vehicle Integration.
In his new role as Etrio’s CTO, Uppala will be leading the company’s comprehensive technology roadmap for enabling next-gen EV products. Furthermore, he will be guiding and leading the technology teams at Etrio to provide full-stack of tech-enabled solutions across the company’s product portfolio in a bid to accelerate the adoption of reliable and intelligent products designed for manufacturability and serviceability for better operational economics and enhanced customer delight.
Prior to joining Etrio, Gopala has anchored strategic product engineering initiatives to support the growth objectives of several global auto majors like Ashok Leyland, VE Commercial Vehicles (a Volvo Group and Eicher Motors JV), General Motors and Force Motors, where he led vehicle engineering and EV architecture.
Speaking about the appointment, Kalyan C Korimerla, Managing Director & Co-Promoter, Etrio said, “We are delighted to onboard Gopala Rao Uppala into the core management team at Etrio. EV products in near future will combine the power of intelligent tech with superior engineering methodologies and therein lies our leverage. As a leading EV OEM focused on ground-up EV design and bolstering the ecosystem, we are leveraging emerging technology and data analytics to improve operational efficiencies and experience for our customers. We aim to bring digital transformation firsts to the EV industry in the years to come, and to that end, believe Gopala Rao will help us give form to our product-tech roadmap.”
“I am thrilled to be joining Etrio as its CTO. Given the company’s laser-sharp focus on data and tech-driven product innovation, I am certain that I shall be able to contribute to Etrio’s growth story in the near future. I am looking forward to introducing new tech innovations and features to Etrio’s existing product portfolio, as well as simultaneously designing new products with cutting-edge technology at its core, thereby raising the bar for Etrio’s vehicles and enabling the company’s continued success in the EV-logistics segment in India,” said Gopala Rao Uppala, on joining Etrio.
An alumnus of IIM-Kozhikode and a Post Graduate in Automobile Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad, Gopala has, through the last decade of his career, anchored strategic product engineering initiatives across various companies to support their growth objectives. On the other hand, Etrio is a tech-driven EV-maker with the vision to “lead cargo fleet electrification”, that creates vehicles used in cargo and logistics designed to address the last mile applications of its customers in e-commerce, logistics, FMCG, farm-to-fork, waste management, and other retail applications.
