Ola Electric Unveils Its First Indigenously Developed Li-ion Cell

Bhavish Aggarwal-led mobility startup Ola Electric has unveiled an indigenously developed lithium-ion (Li-ion) cell, NMC 2170. The startup said that the cell is built in-house and its mass production will begin by 2023 at its upcoming Gigafactory.

In a statement, Ola Electric said it is committed to invest in core R&D to create indigenous advanced cell technologies, strengthen manufacturing capabilities and create an integrated Ola Electric Vehicles hub. Ola also claimed that its cell is the country’s first indigenously developed Li-ion cell.

“A cell is the heart of the EV revolution. Ola is building the world’s most advanced cell research center that will enable us to scale and innovate faster, and build the most advanced and affordable EV products in the world with speed,” said founder and CEO Aggarwal.

“Our first indigenously made Li-ion cell is also the first of many in our cell technology roadmap. Having a robust local EV ecosystem is important for India to become a global EV hub,” he added.

The high nickel cylindrical Ola cell uses NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt) on the cathode side and graphite and silicon on the anode side, the statement said. The use of specific chemistry and materials enables the cell to pack more energy in a given space and also improves the overall life cycle of the cell, it added.

This development comes within months after the startup received incentives under the $2.4 Bn Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme for manufacturing advanced chemistry cell (ACC) batteries in the country. As one of the winners in the bid, Ola Electric had received incentives for 20-gigawatt hours (GWh) capacity.

Last month, reports said that the startup is planning to build a battery cell manufacturing plant in the country with a capacity of up to 50-gigawatt (Gwh) hours. It is already in talks with several global suppliers for the same.

Following the latest update, Ola Electric also said it is recruiting top cell R&D talent across the globe, and will employ 500 PhDs and engineers.

The startup’s plans to venture into cell manufacturing come at a time when it, along with some other electric vehicle manufacturers, has been receiving a lot of criticism for various quarters for fire incidents and other safety-related issues with escooters.

Multiple investigations found that the fire in the escooters was due to a lack of ‘basic safety systems’, including issues with the battery management system (BMS) and battery modules. Several experts, including NITI Aayog member and scientist V K Saraswat, pointed at the low quality of the imported cells as the probable reason behind such fire incidents.

Ola Electric, which topped the list in terms of escooter registration in the country earlier this year, has been seeing a decline in its vehicle registration numbers. 

The startup’s vehicle registrations dropped over 27% to 9,255 units in May from 12,703 units in April. Last month, the registrations of its escooters declined over 36% month-on-month to 5,883 units.

Meanwhile, Ola Electric is also planning to get into electric four-wheeler space by next year. It unveiled the design of its future electric car at a customer event at the Ola Futurefactory in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu last month.

Aggarwal said that more details about Ola cars, including information about car booking, would be revealed on August 15 this year.