Ola Electric closes funding round to build battery plant
Ola Electric, India’s largest electric two-wheeler manufacturer, has closed a 32 billion rupee ($385 million) funding round. The fresh capital comes from investors and the State Bank of India and will be used to expand Ola Electric’s business, in particular the construction of the battery cell factory in Krishnagiri in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which began in June.
“At Ola, our vision is to end the ICE age in automobiles and our upcoming Gigafactory will be a big leap in India’s journey towards becoming a global EV hub,” said Ola Founder & CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, adding: “We are committed towards developing core technologies in EVs and cell and are rapidly scaling up manufacturing to further accelerate the transition to sustainable mobility. Our investors and lenders have shown deep faith in Ola’s vision, and we thank them for the constant support and encouragement.”
The plan for the battery factory was initially announced in February of this year, with an annual capacity of 20 GWh. Then, just a few months later, an announcement was made for a 100 GWh battery gigafactory to be built. At the time, it was said that it would go into operation “early next year with an initial annual capacity of 5 GWh. After that, a gradual expansion to 100 GWh is planned.” However, no timeline was offered for when this would happen.
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