Ola Electric is expanding its business beyond electric scooters with a new range of battery energy storage products aimed at homes, businesses and large-scale power projects. The company unveiled its expanded Shakti energy storage portfolio on August 15, marking another major step in its plan to build a broader energy business around its battery technology.
The new portfolio includes three main products — Ola Shakti Gen 2, Shakti Rack and Mahashakti. Each product is designed for a different part of the energy market. Ola Shakti Gen 2 is aimed at residential customers, Shakti Rack is designed for commercial and industrial applications, while Mahashakti targets utility-scale energy storage projects.
For households, Ola Shakti Gen 2 is designed to provide backup power and help users store electricity for later use. The system can also work with solar power, allowing households to store excess electricity generated during the day and use it when required. The residential system is available in configurations offering 3 kW and 6 kW of power, with battery capacities of 4.6 kWh and 9.2 kWh respectively.
The company has also entered the commercial and industrial segment with Shakti Rack. This system is designed for businesses that need larger amounts of stored electricity and reliable backup power. It can potentially be used by offices, factories, commercial buildings and other facilities where uninterrupted electricity is important.
At the larger end of the market is Mahashakti, which is designed for utility-scale energy storage. The product range includes large battery systems that can be used to store electricity generated from renewable sources such as solar and wind. Such systems are becoming increasingly important as India adds more renewable power to its electricity network.
Ola’s move into energy storage is closely connected to its battery manufacturing plans. The company has been investing heavily in its Gigafactory and battery-cell technology. By selling storage systems outside the electric vehicle market, Ola hopes to create additional demand for the batteries produced at its manufacturing facilities. This could help the company use its battery production capacity even when electric two-wheeler demand is under pressure.
The company is also developing its own battery technology. Its energy strategy has expanded from the earlier 4680 Bharat Cell platform toward products using different battery chemistries, including lithium iron phosphate (LFP). This gives Ola an opportunity to develop products for different applications rather than relying only on batteries designed for electric vehicles.
The timing of the expansion is significant. India is seeing growing demand for battery energy storage as renewable energy production increases. Solar and wind power are not available continuously, so large battery systems can store electricity when generation is high and release it when demand rises. This makes energy storage an important part of the country’s future power infrastructure.
For Ola Electric, the new business could provide another source of revenue while reducing its dependence on electric scooters. The company has been facing challenges in rebuilding volumes in its core electric two-wheeler business, making diversification particularly important.
The company’s success, however, will depend on how quickly it can scale production, control costs and win customers in a market that already has established battery and energy-storage players. Large utility projects also require strong execution capabilities, long-term financing and reliable technology.
Still, Ola’s strategy is clear: the company wants its battery business to become bigger than just an EV component supplier. With products ranging from household backup systems to utility-scale storage, Ola is positioning itself as an energy technology company as well as an electric vehicle manufacturer.
If the company can successfully scale its new products, the energy storage business could become an important growth engine for Ola Electric in the coming years and give its Gigafactory a much larger market beyond electric vehicles.
