Bangalore based EV giant, Ola Electric has revealed its in-house developed Li-ion cell, NMC 2170.
Ola said it will begin the mass production of the cell from its upcoming gigafactory near its FutureFactory by 2023.
The company’s CEO Bhavish Aggarwal took to Twitter and said, “Our first indigenously manufactured Li-ion cell! The cell is the heart of the EV revolution. We need to build our technology to expand and innovate rapidly. A lot in the pipeline on our cell technology roadmap!”
Ola was recently allocated 20GWh capacity under the Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) PLI scheme by the government for developing advanced cells in India. The company is setting up a cell manufacturing facility with an initial capacity of up to 20 GWh, localizing the important part of the EV value chain.
Ola said the state-of-the-art High Nickel Cylindrical Ola Cell uses NMC (Nickel, Manganese and Cobalt) on the cathode side and graphite and silicon on the anode side. The use of specific chemicals and materials enables the cell to pack more energy in a given space and also improves the overall life cycle of the cell. The cell has been developed keeping the indigenous conditions in mind, Ola added.
Li-ion cell batteries are widely used in the EV industry. Its smaller versions are already used in mobile phones and laptops. Li-ion batteries have a better power-to-weight ratio, and the mileage per charge is high. It has a low self-discharge level, making it easy to maintain. Also, most components of the Li-ion batteries can be recycled.
Ola, which makes electric scooters S1 and S1 Pro, has also invested in an Israeli technology company StoreDot which specializes in batteries with extreme fast charging (XFC) technology.
Thanks to the investment in StoreDot, Ola Electric will have access to the former’s state-of-the-art XFC battery technology that charges a battery from 0 to 100% in just 5 minutes. Ola will manufacture batteries integrating StoreDot’s fast charge technology in India.