Timeline of Ola Electric’s Gigafactory in Pochampalli, Tamil Nadu:

PHASE 1(a) – COMPLETED

• March 2024: Phase 1(a) of the factory installation – completed (capacity of 1.4 (GWh).
• May 2024: Ola received BIS certification for its lithium-ion cells.
• Q1 FY26: Ola announced commercial production of its cells.

PHASE 1(b) – NEARING COMPLETION…

• February 2025: Phase 1(b) of construction is…expected to be completed, increasing the factory’s capacity to 5 GWh.

Ola Electric will be the first company in India to commercially manufacture lithium-ion cells under the government’s ACC PLI scheme.

The GigaFactory will serve as…a major hub for manufacturing electric vehicles and advanced EV battery technologies.

Cell Technology:

The Ola GigaFactory focuses on producing revolutionary 4680 cells that play a pivotal role in India’s electric vehicle ecosystem.

The Battery Innovation Center at the GigaFactory spearheads the development of cutting-edge cell and battery technology.

Once fully operational, the GigaFactory is expected to produce enough cells to power over 1 million (10 Lakh) electric vehicles per year.

Advanced technologies, including automation and robotics, ensure high quality and efficiency.

The OLA GigaFactory represents India’s big leap toward building the future of energy and establishing itself as a global hub for electric vehicle manufacturing.

Other Ola Electric milestones:

• Ola Factory Ground breaking in February 2021
• Installation of first pillar in March 2021
• Commencement of manufacturing in October 2021
• Production of 1,00,000 scooters in November 2022
• Production of 2,00,000 scooters in April 2023
• Expansion to 1 million production in October 2023

(GWh = Gigawatt per hour)

Recently there were comments in the press that Ola Electric missed its deadline. But then how many projects in India gets finished in deadline? Ola Electric has been the fastest manufacturing company in India… it has manufactured and sold 4 million eScooters almost double than all the Petrol Scooter companies selling eScooters combined… Yet they pick on Ola Electric.

These dumb and polluting petrol scooter companies do not even have a plan to manufacture batteries (something that costs approx 40% of the vehicle) and then talk about competing with Ola Electric and Market share.

The huge success of the Petrol Scooter companies were because they used their political connections to prevent competition, use paid press to spin negative stories about their competition and enjoyed the licence raj.

Today these Petrol 2-Wheeler companies remind you more of the Premier Padmini cars and Ambassador Cars of Past ERA.

Then there also used to be a Double Decker BEST Bus and Trams in Mumbai: