'We will be able to make EVs 25-30% cheaper with 4680 Bharat Battery Cells': Bhavish Aggarwal

By manufacturing its indigenous 4680 Bharat battery lithium-ion cell, Ola Electric is aiming to reduce the price of its electric vehicles by 25-30%, according to Bhavish Aggarwal, founder, Ola Electric. Aggarwal was speaking at a session on the Business Today’s India@100 summit on Tuesday.

“The cell is the costliest component of an eV. It's the heart of an eV. In the ice era, the the position that a 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,” said Aggarwal. The company has set up the country’s first cell gigafactory in Karnataka. According to Aggarwal, the world has about 2,000 gigawatt hour (GwH) of production capacity, and 90% of this 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,” said Aggarwal.

The company unveiled 4680 Bharat Battery Cell last week during Ola’s Sankalp annual flagship event. The company plans to integrate 4680 bharat battery cell in its electric motorcycles, which will be launched early next year. Unlike 2170 which are integrated in Ola’s electric scooters, 4680 bharat battery cell offers five times more energy density.

“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 will 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, much lesser 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,” said Aggarwal.

Notably, Aggarwal’s company Ola Electric listed in the Indian stock exchanges last week. The three-year old Ola Electric currently commands the lead position in the electric two-wheeler segment. “We are in the business at Ola electric building for a sustainable future, and we want to build a company in a sustainable way, which is a profitable growth journey,” said Aggarwal.