Indigenous innovation ahead: Ola Electric announces to start manufacturing 'Bharat' battery cell
Ola Electric, the recipient of the Center's premier production-linked incentive (PLI) program worth Rs 18,100 crore for advanced chemical cells (ACC), launched the 4680 indigenous cells known as the "Bharat" battery cell on Thursday.
Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder and CEO of Ola Electric, who claims over 70 patents connected to the battery manufacturing technology stated, "We didn't import the tech, we built it ourselves".
During the Ola Electric Sankalp 2024 event, Aggarwal announced the company's strategy to transform the Indian energy landscape. The strategy, scheduled to proceed in a phased manner, aims to produce 5 GWH cells in 2024, scale up to 20 GWh by 2026, and reach 100 GWh by 2030. Additionally, he declared that by April 2025, Ola Electric will begin incorporating the 4680 cells into its products.
Under the PLI scheme, out of the 50Gwh, the Ola Electric was given 20 Gigawatt hours. Meanwhile, other beneficiaries of the scheme include Reliance New Energy Battery Storage and ACC Energy Storage.
The company has also informed the Ministry of Heavy Industries that it has already completed the pilot manufacturing of around 10,000 cells, citing sources told Business Standard.
Moreover, the purpose of the ACC PLI scheme was to make the country's EV industry self-reliant in battery technologies.
Industry estimates peg about 30-50% of the total cost of an electric two-wheeler contributed by its battery alone, depending on its capacity and chemistry. Therefore, the update is likely to make electric vehicles more affordable.
Compared to the 2170 cells in use by Ola in its scooters today, this "Bharat" cell is reported to have five times better energy density to improve the vehicle’s performance. Further, the company also claimed faster charging times with its latest technology which would improve consumer convenience.
The gigafactory of the company is being built in phases in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, with Phase 1 aiming for a 5GwH capacity.