The CEO of EV producer Ola Electric, Bhavish Aggarwal announced the commencement of construction at the company’s first battery cell gigafactory in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu on May 26 via a tweet. 

Aggarwal claims that once completed the gigafactory would be one of the most advanced and biggest cell manufacturing facilities in India with a yearly production capacity of 10 gigawatt-hours of battery cells capable of powering electric vehicles and other battery solutions as well.

The government is also pushing electric mobility in the country through its Rs 80,000 crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme with Ola Electric being among the select manufacturers to have been offered incentives. 

Apart from Ola Electric, Reliance Industries and Bengaluru-based Log9 Material are also reportedly planning to set up factories for local production of battery cells. These local battery cell manufacturing facilities will help India reduce its dependence on global suppliers and grow its economy and overcome supply chain constraints.

Elon Musk’s Tesla is also looking for a country to set up its manufacturing plant with India being one of the top contenders. Executives at Tesla are also in talks with the Indian government regarding the same.  

The company’s agenda for the current year is to launch lithium-ion cells and electric motorbikes among other products like small and light-weight commercial EVs, Aggarwal said. He hopes to see Ola Electric as a major player in India’s EV sector and also plans to get into electric four-wheelers in the future.

Talking about Ola Electric’s 2023 agenda, Bhavish Aggarwal said that the company aims to focus on manufacturing motorbikes, and lithium-ion cells and entering the commercial vehicle space.