Next year, Ola Electric will open India's first Gigafactory: Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO

17 Aug 2023 , 10:39 AM

According to Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola Electric, India’s first large-scale gigafactory, which will produce rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), it will be operational by the end of the current calendar year.

‘By early next year, we will actually make the gigafactory operational and start using our own Indian-manufactured cells, and that is going to be a very important initiative to reduce cost even further,’ stated Aggarwal.

The Gigafactory’s first capacity, according to the CEO, will be 5 GWh. The factory will have a 100 GWh capacity when operating at full capacity, making it the largest battery manufacturing facility in the world.

He makes a comment regarding the need to import batteries for Indian usage as he discusses the cost component of EVs.

We bring it in from Korea. It covers roughly a third, and occasionally even 40%, of the EV manufacturing costs, according to the originator.

He continued by saying that for the past 2.5 years, his business has been attempting to manufacture lithium-ion technology cells domestically.

Aggarwal explained his plans to produce goods in India by saying, ‘Not just cost, we’ll make sure we’re self-reliant on energy requirements.

Ola Electric’s CEO told ETNow that his company’s goal for the following three years is to double the sales of its current goods.

‘We want every Indian to have our product, as well as the international market,’ added Aggarwal.

People have expressed skepticism about electric motorcycles, but according to Aggrawal, there is no reason why it shouldn’t happen in the future.

With an introductory price of Rs 79,999, Ola Electric debuted its brand-new entry-level electric scooter S1X on Tuesday, stepping up its competition with vehicles powered by traditional engines. The business also displayed four electric motorcycles that will go on sale at the end of 2024.

Fundamentally superior to ICE vehicles because, in addition to the upfront price being equal to ICE scooters, using an EV is much more affordable than using petrol or ICE vehicles because electricity is much more readily available, affordable, and the EV vehicles are much more effective, according to the CEO of Ola Electric on the company’s most recent launch.

‘The running cost of an EV vehicle is roughly one-tenth or lower than that of a petrol vehicle,’ the speaker continued.

‘It’s crucial to combat climate change and ensure a sustainable future. The climate change epicentre is India. Climate targets will be difficult to attain if we don’t change, according to Ola Electric’s founder.

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