Sources said SoftBank Group-backed Ola Electric is in talks with several global suppliers to set up a battery cell manufacturing plant with a capacity of up to 50 gigawatt hours (GWh) in India. As part of its wider electrification boost, the firm plans to invest in a 50Gwh battery plant as well as companies with advanced cell and battery technology.
Ola Electric 40Gwh of battery capacity is needed to power 10 million electric scooters annually. The rest will be for its electric cars, which the company plans to build in the future.
Sources said the cell battery plant could cost around $1 billion (about Rs 7,780 crore) and could be built with an initial capacity of 1Gwh, which would be expanded in future.
More than 40 global suppliers are already in Bengaluru Hailstone Founder and CEO Bhavish Agarwal is at the company’s headquarters and is also visiting Ola Futurefactory in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu this week, said sources familiar with the matter.
He said Ola Electric has initiated talks with global suppliers from Germany, Korea, Japan and other hubs to meet its battery manufacturing ambitions.
It currently imports its battery cells from South Korea.
Companies such as Durr and Siemens are also on the list of suppliers.
CATL dominates the battery cell manufacturing sector, LGenergy solutions, and Panasonicwhich supplies to vehicle manufacturers such as Tesla And Volkswagen,
Industry experts believe that one of the world’s youngest EV companies is keen to start manufacturing cells by next year.
Agarwal has already said that India can soon replace China and emerge as a global hub electric vehicles (EVS).
In this direction, Ola plans to develop the entire ecosystem – cell and battery technology, global supply chain, interconnected as well as autonomous vehicle technologies.
Ola Electric is the only Indian auto and EV company selected by the government under its ambitious Rs. 80,000 crore SAIL PLI scheme to set up an advanced SAIL manufacturing facility in 2 years.
Its Sale Production Linked Incentive (PLI) bidding was for a maximum permitted bidding capacity of 20GWh.
According to sources, Ola is looking to set up an even bigger 50GWh gigafactory and a battery innovation center to support its two-wheeler and four-wheeler roadmap for India and the world.