Ola Gigafactory, which is currently conducting trial production of battery cells for electric two-wheelers in Tamil Nadu, is expected to start commercial production by the beginning of next year, Ola Electric Mobility Ltd officials visiting Ahmedabad said Tuesday. These indigenous cells not only carry five times the energy compared to their imported counterparts from South Korea, but are also expected to help Ola scale down on imports. 

“Currently, the import of components in our electric two-wheeler is about 35 per cent. The biggest import is the cell which we are buying from South Korea. The cell is one third of the cost of the vehicle. It is the most costliest aspect of an electric vehicle. To reduce our import percentage, we are producing our own cell, which is not only larger in size, but carries five times the energy of the imported version. It is an absolute cutting edge design and R&D. Once these cells go into our vehicles next year, the import percentage will come down significantly,” Bhavish Aggarwal, chairman and managing director, said while talking about his company’s ₹6,100 crore IPO at a press conference.

Harish Abichandani, the chief financial officer of the company said the Ola Gigafactory located in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu will begin commercial production of the cells by the beginning of next year. “Currently, we are conducting trail production of these cells at our factory. The commercial production is slated to begin either at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. After the commercial production starts we will use these cells in our new products and the percentage of imports which is about 36 percent will go down,” Abichandani said.

Ola Electric Mobility IPO

Ola Electric Mobility Ltd plans  to invest ₹1,227 crore from the IPO proceeds to expand the Gigafactory in Phase 2 of construction. The company said it has already invested ₹500 crore in constructing  the Gigafactory. Phase 1(a) of the factory, having 1.4 Gigawatt per hour (GWh) capacity was completed in March 2024, and Phase 1 (b) of construction, which will take the factory capacity to 5 GWh, is currently in progress and is expected to be completed by February 2025. The company has also received a ₹1,900 crore term loan from the State Bank of India for funding Phase 1(b) of construction.

“Phase 2 of our plans will take the production capacity from 5 Gigawatt Hour (GWh) to 6.4 GWh by April 30, 2025,” Abichandani added.

“Phase 2 of our plans will take the production capacity from 5 Gigawatt Hour (GWh) to 6.4 GWh by April 30, 2025,” Abichandani added.

Under the Cell PLI scheme of the government, the company is required to achieve 20 GWh capacity by 2026. When asked if Ola plans to “monetise” the data it generates, Aggarwal said, “Our strategy is to use the data to improve the customer experience or product designs. We already use the data to predict potential failures. We do not foresee a monetisation of data.

The company also plans to use ₹1,600 crore of the IPO proceeds for funding Research and Development for the next three years. Ola Electric Mobility Ltd sold 3.29 lakh electric two-wheelers in the financial year 2024, up from 1.56 lakh units the previous year. The Ola Futurefactory, which manufactures  electric two-wheelers, has a capacity of 10 lakh units.

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