Ola Electric has made a strategic investment in Israeli startup StoreDot. Ola will get exclusive rights to manufacture batteries that incorporate StoreDot’s fast-charging technology, which claims to charge a battery from 0 to 100% in about 5 minutes.
Bengaluru-based Ola Electric has made an undisclosed strategic investment in an Israeli battery technology startup.
The Israeli company called StoreDot develops “very quick charging” batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).
Ola Electric will gain access to the company’s extreme-fast charging (XFC) battery technology, which claims to charge a battery from 0 to 100 percent in about 5 minutes, as part of the investment.
Ola group CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said the company is looking is to create a complete EV ecosystem in India. According to him, the future of EVs lies in better, faster, and more energy density batteries capable of rapid charging and giving greater range. Ola will also get exclusive rights in the country to produce batteries that incorporate StoreDot’s fast-charge technology.
The investment, according to Ola Electric, is the first of several “planned global strategic investments” as the company strives to build up its core research and development in advanced cell chemistry and production, as well as additional battery technologies and innovative energy systems.
Aggarwal said his company is increasingly investing in core cell and battery technologies. “Ola is building up its in-house capabilities and global talent hiring, and partnering with global firms undertaking cutting-edge work in this space,” he added.
To address the demand generated by its vehicle production plant, Ola Futurefactory, the business intends to build a gigafactory for cells in the country.
Batteries account for around 40-50 percent of the cost of electric vehicles, and EV manufacturers are working to reduce this figure. Slow charging is another issue, and as the number of manufacturers grows, the battery may become one of the differentiators.
The government said on January 15 that Ola Electric is one of ten companies that have made proposals for the Rs 18,100-crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage.
On March 16, Ola Electric also added former LG Chem Power CEO Prabhakar Patil to its board of directors. Following the hiring, Aggarwal stated that the business aimed to establish a cutting-edge cell-manufacturing facility in India with a capacity of up to 50GWh, and that Patil’s expertise would assist hasten the process of bringing indigenously designed and manufactured cells to market.
“Ola Electric plans to bring StoreDot’s extreme fast charging battery technology to India for its range of EVs. This will provide considerably greater range and charging speed performance to Indian consumers.”
StoreDot CEO Dr Doron Myersdorf stated the company is also providing a clear, hype-free technical roadmap to its our customers. This will extend far into the future, giving 100 miles of range in just a 2-minute charge, within 10 years.
StoreDot’s backers include bp ventures, Daimler, Samsung Ventures, and the Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast. The firm expects to begin mass manufacturing of its XFC battery cells in 2024.
The investment, however, comes at a time when Ola Electric is still dealing with challenges with quality, delivery, and after-sales service of its scooters.
StoreDot’s backers include bp ventures, Daimler, Samsung Ventures, and the Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast. The firm expects to begin mass manufacturing of its XFC battery cells in 2024.
