Ola’s Made-in-India Battery Cells Will Power Ola EVs From Next Year

Ola Electric has unveiled plans to integrate its lithium-ion battery cells into its electric vehicles starting in early 2025. 

With this new strategy, Ola aims to reduce the company's reliance on imported components and decrease overall EV production costs. The indigenously developed cells will be manufactured at Ola's newly operational Gigafactory.

Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder and managing director of Ola Electric, stated during a press briefing that the company's goal in producing its cells is to minimize dependency on imports while simultaneously reducing the cost of electric vehicles.

We had already reported earlier that these upcoming cells, called 4680 cells, are very similar to the cylindrical cells that Tesla patented earlier. With this new type of cell, Ola will join an elite class of manufacturers to commercially use the tech.

The Ola Gigafactory, which spans 110 acres, has commenced operations with an initial capacity of 5 GWh (GigaWatt hours). The company plans to scale this up to a substantial 100 GWh in phases. Aggarwal revealed that Ola has already invested close to $100 million for the first phase of the Gigafactory expansion. Currently, the facility operates at a capacity of 1.49 GWh.

Ola Electric's Gigafactory represents a significant step forward for India's growing EV ecosystem. The company already boasts a production capacity of 1 million EVs per annum at its Future Factory in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu. Aggarwal also hinted at plans to expand the company's product portfolio, announcing that Ola will launch several motorcycle variants by early next year.

Addressing concerns about the recent reduction in FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) subsidies, Aggarwal expressed support for the government's decision. He noted that as EV adoption increases and costs decrease due to increased local supply, the tapering of subsidies aligns with industry trends. 

While Ola is gearing up for the launch of its own indigenously developed battery cell, the company also recently got approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its much-anticipated IPO which the company had submitted last year in December.

Through this IPO, Ola plans to raise ₹5,500 crore through a fresh issue, alongside an offer-for-sale component of 95.2 million shares. These proceeds will be used for further capacity expansion, and research & development. Currently, the Bengaluru-based EV company dominates the EV 2W segment with a 52 per cent market share, and it also plans to introduce new offerings shortly, both in the form of commercial electric three-wheelers and electric motorcycles.