Ola Electric eyes stakes in JVs to up raw material supplies

Also in talks for tie-ups with firms that provide elements to make batteries

- SURAJEET DAS GUPTA

Ola Electric is open to picking up minority stakes in a couple of joint ventures in order to build a robust supply chain of the key raw materials it needs to manufacture advanced cell chemistry batteries.

It is also in talks for partnerships with providers of global anode, cathode and electrolytes which are used to make the batteries in the hope that these providers are keen to open up shop in India and create facilities in the electric vehicle hub which Ola is building. The company has already worked on making its first pre-sample cell in a lab in South Korea and will now test it at its new research and development facility in Bangalore. If all goes according to plan, Ola will be able to produce the first GWH of battery power by the end of 2023. Giving a probable timeline for starting commercial production, Ola chief financial officer Arun Kumar G R explained its manufacturing ambitions. "We will now test the cell in our world-class lab which has been operational for over 45 days. Once we go to sample A (the various stages of commercializing the cell) and then sample B which would probably be six months apart, sample C is pretty much commercial production so we need to order equipment soon and hope to have our 1GWH by the end of next year," said Kumar.