Ola Electric has revealed its intention to partner with OEMs as it wants to commission an EV cell manufacturing plant in India, with a capacity of 50 GWh or giga-watt hour.
Initial capacity can be 1GWh and then expanded as and when needed.
The batteries/cells manufactured will be used to power 10 million electric scooters that Ola plans to manufacture every year and the remainder will be used for manufacturing its upcoming electric car.
The investment for setting up an EV cell manufacturing plant may very well be around ₹ 7,700 crores or $ 1 billion.
A latest report also suggests that over 40 global OEMs are scheduled to meet Bhavish Aggarwal at the company headquarters in Bengaluru and are likely to visit the Ola Futurefactory in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu.
Companies from Europe, Japan and Korea are said to be in talks with Ola Electric. At present, Ola gets its batteries fully imported from South Korea.
Industry analysts suggest that Ola Electric aims to begin EV cell manufacturing in India next year. It is the only auto company that was selected by the government of India’s ₹ 80,000 crore cell production linked incentive (PLI) scheme to set up an EV cell manufacturing facility over the next two years.
Battery cell manufacturing is dominated by a handful of Asian companies including CATL, LG Energy Solutions and Panasonic that supply to major global automakers like Tesla Inc and Volkswagen.
The government of India would like companies to manufacture clean fuel vehicles and batteries locally to cut the country’s oil import bill and reduce pollution.
The government plans to give incentives of up to $6 billion for this, and Ola was among those that bid for incentives.