Ola set to construct a cell manufacturing facility in India

Ola Electric, which is sponsored by SoftBank Group, is in talks with a number of global suppliers to develop a battery cell manufacturing plant in India with a capacity of up to 50 gigawatt hours, according to sources.

Along with the 50 Gwh battery project, the company wants to invest in firms with innovative cell and battery technologies as part of its broader electrification push.

To power 10 million electric scooters yearly, Ola Electric need 40 Gwh of battery capacity.

The rest will go toward the company’s electric cars, which it hopes to produce in the future.

According to sources, the cell battery project would cost around $1 billion (around Rs 7,700 crore) and will start with a capacity of 1 Gwh before being extended in the future.

According to people familiar with the situation, around 40 worldwide suppliers have already arrived in Bengaluru to meet with Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal at the company’s headquarters and are also touring the Ola Futurefactory in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu this week.

Ola Electric has begun conversations with global suppliers from Germany, Korea, Japan, and other cities to help feed its battery production goals, according to the report.

Battery cells are currently imported from South Korea.

Dürr and Siemens appear to be on the list of vendors as well.

CATL, LG, Energy Solutions, and Panasonic, among others, dominate the battery cell manufacturing business, supplying manufacturers such as Tesla and Volkswagen.

Industry analysts say that one of the world’s newest electric vehicle businesses is eager to start cell production next year.

Aggarwal has previously predicted that India will soon supplant China as the world powerhouse for electric automobiles (EVs).

Ola intends to create the complete ecosystem to achieve this goal, including cell and battery technology, worldwide supply chains, and linked as well as autonomous car technologies.

Ola Electric is the first Indian auto and electric vehicle firm to be chosen by the government to build an advanced cell manufacturing factory in two years under the government’s ambitious Rs 80,000 crore cell PLI scheme.

It bid the maximum permissible bid capacity of 20 GWh for its cell Production Linked Incentive (PLI) bid.