“Will have own cells within our scooters by early next year … Our goal of doing cell is they we can reduce dependency on imports as well as reduce the cost of EVs,” Aggarwal said in a press briefing on June 29.
Spread across 110 acre, the Ola Gigafactory has commenced operations with an initial full capacity 5 GWh (Giga Watt hours). It would be scaled up to 100 GWh in phases.
“We have invested close to $100 million for phase A of Gigafactory expansion. The aim is to take it to 100 Gwh in phases,” Aggarwal added. Presently, the running capacity is 1.49 Gwh at its new facility.India’s EV manufacturers rely on lithium-ion battery cells from China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. Ola currently sources its cells from LG Chem, South Korea.
In February, Ola signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tamil Nadu government committing investments of Rs 7,614 crore for manufacturing electric cars, two wheelers and lithium cell gigafactories in the state.
A gigafactory is a facility where equipment and components related to electrification and decarbonisation technologies are manufactured.Solid-state batteries are expected to offer improved safety, a longer lifespan and faster charging compared with conventional lithium-ion batteries that use flammable liquid electrolytes. But mass adoption has proved difficult due to constraints in raw material availability, intricate manufacturing processes and the resultant high costs.
The company presently has a capacity of 1 million units of EVs per annum in its Future Factory in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu. “We will launch a a few variants of motorcycle by early next year,” Aggarwal said. Talking about FAME subsidy reduction, Aggarwal said that this was expected and he is aligned with the government on this move.
“FAME subsidy has been tapering off, as adoption is going up, the costs are also coming down. More and more local supply is happening, the cost will further come down … We are fully aligned with the government on FAME subsidy tapering,” Aggarwal said.Ola Electric’s rival EV maker Ather Energy recently announced setting up a manufacturing facility in Maharashtra.
Both the factories of Ola Electric are in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. On manufacturing ecosystem in Karnataka, Aggarwal said that while Karnataka’s ecosystem is also very industry-friendly, the firm has found Tamil Nadu’s offer more attractive. Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal on EV companies opening outside Karnataka, profitability/layoffs
“Karnataka is a very good manufacturing hub and is one of the top manufacturing states. Each company might find relevance in some state. We found Tamil Nadu’ s offer quite appealing,” Aggarwal said. Ola Electric reported consolidated revenue of Rs 2,782 crore up nearly 510 percent in the financial year ended March 2023 (FY23) even as its net loss widened to Rs 1,472 crore.
“Profitability and volumes go hand in hand, as we are scaling our production rapidly, there will be improvement in the bottom line as well,” Aggarwal said.Localising cell manufacturing is seen as a key step in bringing down upfront costs of EVs, with cell sourcing among the biggest costs for most EV makers.The Bengaluru-based firm has already begun manufacturing of the more efficient 4680 form of battery cells, but only for testing.
