Ola Electric seems to be on the cusp of a transformation. And we don’t necessarily mean with the number of scooters sold, its ambitious HyperDelivery model or the upcoming motorbikes. The Bhavish Aggarwal-led giant’s focus is turning to something that could open up a bigger market: battery and cell manufacturing.

With a proposed investment of INR 200 Cr in the battery subsidiary, Ola Electric is looking to take some of the focus away from sales figures in a competitive EV two-wheeler market, and is instead looking to not only improve its margins but contribute to India’s battery supply chain ecosystem as well.

To be clear, battery manufacturing has always been on the cards for Ola Electric. But this is the first big push we have seen from the company after it brought on board some bigwigs to lead this business in the pre-IPO days.

For instance, Hyun Shik Park, previously head of cell operations at LG’s so-called Mother Factory in South Korea, now leads the Ola Cells Gigafactory and is a critical link in Ola’s battery push given his prowess.

Now that Ola Electric is well into its life as a public company though, this push is a sign that relying on the sales prowess and building up a user base was not quite enough. To be clear, Ola Electric’s customer base is still strong, but now as Aggarwal & Co have come under competitive pressure, the focus needs to turn to the full EV stack.

Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor surpassed Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric in terms of electric scooter sales in March, continuing their dominance in the segment. Bajaj Auto topped the charts, with registrations of its Chetak electric scooters surging nearly 62% to 34,863 units last month from 21,537 units sold in February.

Ola Electric’s net loss surged 50% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 564 Cr in Q3 FY25, while revenue from operations declined 19% YoY to INR 1,045 Cr.

Over the past three months, the OEM has been dousing fires on multiple fronts, including regulatory scrutiny, mounting losses, dwindling stock price, among others. It relied on cutting service and warranty related expenses to........

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