Ola Electric adds ex-LG Chem CEO Prabhkar Patil to board as it plans to make its own batteries
Bengaluru: Electric vehicle (EV) maker Ola Electric said on Wednesday it has appointed Prabhkar Patil, former chief executive officer of LG Chem Power, to the company’s board as it plans to make its own batteries.
LG Chem is a leading lithium-ion cell manufacturing company. Currently, Ola Electric buys lithium-ion cells from foreign vendors and assembles them to make battery packs at its factory in Tamil Nadu. The battery pack is the most expensive component of an EV.
“We are investing deeply in core R&D to create indigenous advanced cell technologies and in large-scale manufacturing of batteries,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola.
Ola Electric is among the 10 companies that have applied for the Indian government’s $2.4 billion production linked incentive (PLI) scheme to develop and manufacture batteries for EVs.
