Ola Electric has appointed former LG Chem Power CEO Dr. Prabhakar Patil on its board as the company looks to build cell technology and manufacture Li-ion cells in India at scale.

Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO, Ola group says, “we will set up a cutting edge cell manufacturing facility with up to 50GWh capacity right here in India. Dr Prabhakar’s expertise will help the company accelerate this process of bringing indigenously designed and manufactured cells to the market.”

According to reports, the company was investing in core research and development to create indigenous advanced cell technologies as well as invest in large-scale manufacturing of batteries.

According to the government, Ola Electric is among the 10 firms to have submitted bids under the Rs. 18,100-crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage.

The government has taken various steps to encourage the use of electric vehicles as it seeks to reduce emissions and trims its fuel bill. Batteries account for at least 40 percent of the vehicle cost, forcing EV makers to look for ways to being the prices down.

Reports suggest that, the company was scouting for opportunities to make strategic investments in global firms focused on advancing cell chemistry research and other battery technologies, including fast charging. It would help the electric-vehicle maker to provide higher density and higher battery performance for its upcoming range of two and four-wheelers.

“I look forward to working closely with Dr Prabhakar as we deepen our focus and investments into advanced cell research as well as large-scale manufacturing to build the best battery technologies right here in India and create a global EV hub with our Futurefactory at its centre,” adds Aggarwal.

Aggarwal says, “next software update for its electric scooters was ‘almost ready’ and would be rolled for everyone by the end of April. The update is expected to bring in a lot of promised features such as companion app, cruise control, navigation, and bluetooth along with performance improvements.