Ola Electric May Face Rough Roads As LG Energy Solutions Levels Tech Leak Charge Against Ex-Researcher

Ola Electric Mobility Ltd. may stare at rough roads over allegations of having accessed confidential technology "leaked" by a former researcher of South Korea’s LG Energy Solution.

The Korean company has claimed that one of its ex-researcher leaked its proprietary pouch-type ternary lithium-ion battery manufacturing to the Indian EV manufacturer, along with the manufacturing steps and know-how, according to a report in The Hindu Businessline.

In accordance with this, the researcher is reportedly under investigation by the National Intelligence Service, Seoul Metropolitan Police, and LG Energy Solution.

As per the reports, the person in question has admitted to having transferred the information to Ola Electric, but denies having been aware of the confidential nature of the technology.

Ola Electric faced flak in July 2024 after MapmyIndia’s parent company CE Info Systems filed a legal notice against it for allegedly violating the terms of a license agreement, signed for the use of its application programming interfaces or APIs and software development kits or SDKs for navigation.

Ola's parent company ANI Technologies had been in a licensed pact with MapmyIndia since 2015.

Ola was the top patent filer in India with 205 patents in 2022–23, and the company also unveiled its first ever made-in-India lithium-ion cell in 2022.

By June 2024, the company had commenced the production of its proprietary cylindrical lithium-ion battery called 4680 Bharat Cell, which claimed to have more than 20% higher energy density and range than mainstream 2170 cells. Additionally, it had also announced an investment of $500 million to establish its Battery Innovation Centre (BIC) in Bengaluru.

Founder of Go GreenBOV and industry veteran Dhivik Ashok was reported as saying by Hindu Businessline that a former LG employee is the highest paid employee in Ola.

"There are many questions around the technology that has been built. Even the scooter, was it designed in India? It was copied from somewhere else and put out in the market, and eventually customers paid the price", the publication quoted him as saying.