Ola signs PLI pact with Heavy Industries Ministry for local battery cell manufacturing

Ola Electric has today signed the agreement under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme by the government of India to manufacture advanced cells in India.

 Ola Electric is the only Indian EV company selected by the government under its ambitious Rs 80,000 crore cell PLI scheme, receiving the maximum capacity of 20 GWh for its bid in March.

Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and Founder, Ola, said, “Today, 90% of global capacity for cell manufacturing is in China, and to reverse this import dependency locally manufactured cell technology is key. The ACC PLI scheme will be instrumental in making India self-reliant and localising  the most critical aspects of the EV value chain. At Ola, our roadmap to develop cell technology and manufacturing is vigorously progressing; making us a stronger vertically integrated mobility company across – products, mobility services and tech.”

On July 12, Ola had unveiled India’s first indigenously developed lithium-ion cell, NMC 2170 and is investing heavily in developing core R&D to create indigenous advanced cell technologies. To begin mass production of its cell from its upcoming 50 GWh Gigafactory, Ola has roped in global suppliers from Germany, Korea, Japan and other hubs.

Ola says its “upcoming Battery Innovation Center (BIC) in Bengaluru, to be operationalised in August, will be the cornerstone for core cell tech development and battery innovation out of India for the world. BIC will house advanced labs and high-tech equipment for battery innovation for developing futuristic and localized cell technology. The company is also recruiting top cell R&D talent across the globe, and will employ 500 PhDs and engineers.”

The BIC will host proto lines that can produce all form factors – Cylindrical, Pouch, Coin, Prismatic cells. The innovation centre will have capabilities to develop complete packages of battery pack design, fabrication and testing under one roof. BIC will also be equipped with in-house production capability of mg to kg scale of anode and cathode material, integrated facility for Hand in Hand Nanoscale analysis and Molecular Dynamics simulation and an in-house crystal structure analysis to develop new battery materials.