Ola Electric battery cell Gigafactory construction begins; promises to be India’s largest
Ola Electric has announced the commencement of construction of its upcoming battery cell Gigafactory, which promises to be the largest EV cell facility in India. Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO - Ola Electric, shared the update in a tweet while also sharing images of the groundbreaking initiative. The new Gigafactory is in line with Ola’s plans to be a holistic player in the EV sector with the company working on more two-wheelers and even four-wheelers in the electric mobility segment.
Ola Electric’s cell Gigafactory is located in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, and promises to have a production capacity of 10 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per annum. The upcoming manufacturing facility will be capable of producing battery cells that will go into electric vehicles as well as other battery solutions. India does not have its own battery cell manufacturing so far at a large scale in order to compete with players from China, Taiwan and South Korea.
Also Read : Ola Electric unveils its first indigenous battery cell, mass production from 2023
Also check these Cars
The tweet from Bhavish Aggarwal read, “Work started and moving along at full speed on our cell gigafactory! It will be India’s biggest and amongst the worlds biggest cell factories. And the centrepiece for #endICEage!"
The Indian government is also pushing for electric mobility and has offered incentives under the PLI scheme to those venturing into this sector including producing batteries. Apart from Ola Electric, Reliance Industries is also expected to set up a battery cell manufacturing facility in the country, while Bengaluru-based start-up Log9 Materials became the first Indian player to begin locally producing battery cells in India.
The local production of battery cells should help curb supply chain constraints that the auto sector is severely facing for electric vehicles. It also helps achieve higher economies of scale with lower import and logistics costs for acquiring battery cells in the future. That said, Ola’s cell Gigafactory is still a few years away from being operational.
