“The smallest unit of a big leap. The Bharat Cell, now made in India,” OLA Electric posted on its official X (earlier Twitter) handle on 27th August giving a sneak peek into the indigenous Bharat Cell created by the company. Reportedly, it is a state-of-the-art 4680 lithium-ion cell that was fully developed and designed in India.
The move aligns with the country’s larger goals of leading the world in electric mobility and furthering the campaign for battery production to become more self-sufficient. The 4680 Bharat Battery Cell was launched on 15th August during Ola’s Sankalp annual flagship event to expedite the country’s electric vehicle (EV).
The smallest unit of a big leap. The Bharat Cell, now made in India. pic.twitter.com/bGf5zVn4UX
— Ola Electric (@OlaElectric) August 27, 2024
The “Bharat” cell seeks to develop Ola Electric’s and the Indian EV industry’s technological capabilities. “We didn’t import the tech, we built it ourselves,” stated Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder of Ola Electric, underscoring the company’s dedication to innovation. The Bharat cell, which has received over 70 patents as per OLA, aims to provide five times the energy density of the 2170 cells currently utilized in Ola’s electric scooters.
Furthermore, Ola Electric is gearing up to launch its electric motorcycle line into the Indian motorbike market. Aggarwal noted that motorcycles make up over two-thirds of all automobile sales in India, highlighting the strategic value of the move.
Ola Electric wants to establish itself as a leader in the sector by capturing a significant portion of the growing EV market with its entry into this category. Aggarwal’s statement is in tune with the Indian government’s desire for indigenous manufacturing and technological independence, especially in the expanding EV market. Agarwal stated that the Bharat Cell will work to reduce the dependency on imported battery technology while promoting indigenous innovation. Ola Electric’s popular S1 and S1 Pro models have helped the company establish a solid presence in the electric scooter market.
‘A new era for EV revolution and indigenous technology’, claims OLA
The “Bharat Cell” is reportedly a significant advancement in technology over earlier battery designs. Compared to the 2170 cells now in use, the battery has five times higher energy density because of its 4680 shape. Longer EV ranges are a result of this higher energy density, which is essential for the widespread adoption of electric mobility in a nation the size of India. Additionally, the cell offers reduced charging times, which solves a major issue for EV users, the convenience of charging. Ola claims that the cell lowers production costs by utilizing less cobalt.
The Bharat Cell is produced at Ola’s gigafactory in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu. Aggarwal hopes to enhance this factory’s capability to 20 gigawatt hours (GWh) capacity by 2026, and 100 GWh by 2030.
‘EVs 25-30% cheaper with Bharat Cell’, says Bhavish Aggarwal
Aggarwal stated that the company wants to cut the cost of its electric vehicles by 25–30% by producing its own 4680 Bharat battery lithium-ion cell. “The cell is the costliest component of an eV. It’s the heart of an EV. In the ice era, the position that an engine had an engine one is automotive company engine guardian. Similarly, in the EV era, that’s the cell. Because the cell defines the weight, it defines the range, it defines the charging speed. The charging speed is not a function of the charger. It’s the function of the cell. So all these things of your vehicle depend on the cell and if we make our own, we will be able to make it about 25-30% cheaper,” he conveyed during Business Today’s summit on 20th August.
Aggarwal estimates that 90% of the world’s production capacity, or 2,000 GWh, is located in China. “India has one and a half gigawatt, that is mine. I hope to set up about 100 gigawatt hour through the course of this decade,” he added. “When we set up our cell effort four years back, when we started Ola electric, that’s when we set up our cell effort, we decided that we would build the frontier technology in cell not just the current. We will not license technology from China or elsewhere. We will not just use some old generation of technology, but we will build what, four years ago we felt was the frontier tech, and that was the 4680 format. It’s much bigger, more energy-dense and much less to charge. And then from here on, we can go into solid state cells which are the holy grail of energy storage in the modern world,” he shared during the event.
