When I visited Ola Electric’s Battery Innovation Centre in Bengaluru, I expected a modest setup, a typical R&D lab focused on incremental improvements. What I encountered instead was a full-scale effort to reimagine and industrialise one of the most complex and strategically important technologies of our time — the lithium-ion cell. Nearly 500 researchers were at work, many with experience in labs and companies across South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the US. They weren’t tweaking specs on imported components; they were building a new type of battery from the ground up.

At the centre of this effort is the 4,680-format cylindrical cell, a design originally popularised by Tesla. This format is known for higher energy density, improved thermal management, and structural integration in electric vehicles (EVs). But Ola has taken a riskier path by developing its own version using dry electrode manufacturing, a technique that avoids the toxic solvents and energy-hungry ovens of conventional production. Rather than coating materials in wet slurry, Ola’s method presses a dry mix directly onto the current collector. It is faster, cleaner, and more energy-efficient, eliminating solvent recovery systems, improving consistency, and lowering costs.

The company says it has spent three years building this capability from scratch and has achieved consistent, high-volume production for both cathodes and anodes.........

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