The ride-hailing app Ola's electric vehicle (EV) division, Ola Electric, has put $100 million into the lithium-ion battery cells that power its EVs.

According to the reports, Ola Electric has employed over 200 researchers for the R&D process.

Currently, Ola Electric sources battery cells from South Korea-based LG Chem for its electric scooters. As battery cells are the most expensive component in an EV, manufacturing the cells can bring down the cost for Ola by around 30%.

The firm aims to develop the in-house capability of making batteries on its own by 2026 and has developed a sample cell akin to those used in its current escooters. Ola Electric will start with a 20GWh initial cell manufacturing capacity having 60% localisation to cater to the near-term needs instead of being fully dependent on LG Chem.

Ola Electric was shortlisted for the Centre’s Rs 18,000-crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for producing batteries worth 130 GWh. The meeting with the brokerage firms happened at Ola's 500-acre Futurefactory - the facility which will eventually have an annual manufacturing capacity of 10 million two-wheelers, including scooters and ebikes, 1 million cars, and 100 GWh of battery cells.