Ola Swappable Battery Patented: Likely For The B2B Scooters

Ola Electric has just patented its own version of swappable battery tech, which we think could be used for its upcoming B2B (business-to-business) electric scooters and electric rickshaws. Since these patented batteries are boxy, they won’t be used for the Ola S1 electric scooter range, which have banana-shaped batteries mounted under the floorboard.

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The newly patented swappable batteries have a handle on top, which will make them easy to remove and install – in the scooter/rickshaw and the charger. Talking of which, Ola currently does not have a battery swapping network. Even its Hypercharger network isn’t really well spread out. If it plans to build a swapping network simultaneously, it’s going to be an uphill task. However, it would make sense for the brand to come up with new charging stations with both fast chargers and swappable battery chargers in the same places.

Ola also filed patents for two B2B electric scooters in February 2024 and both of them could benefit from a swappable battery that’s likely to be placed under the rider’s seat.. From the patent designs, it’s evident that these will not have the banana batteries that are used in the S1 range.

These batteries will also be useful for electric rickshaws, for which Ola filed a patent in March 2024. Battery swapping will ensure these rickshaw drivers can run all day without having to lose precious business time in charging. However, like we stated earlier, all of this can only be made possible if the swapping network is well spread out in all the cities Ola is targeting.