Energy storage

The Dholera Special Investment Region—known for the upcoming 5 GW solar park—has secured the first Lithium battery investment from Tata Chemicals, which has committed Rs 4000 crore to set up 10 GW capacity.

While India’s recent union budget announced steps to create an electric vehicle market, the solar sector still has issues that have not been addressed.

The new budget aims to seize the opportunity in energy storage and EVs through a range of incentives. However, alongside demand, production and export, the government also needs to focus on e-waste management and Li-ion battery recycling to sustain raw material supply and minimize environmental impact.

The annual report has placed EVs at the heart of India’s decarbonization and called for an Indian answer to the U.S. ‘Motor City’ of Detroit, where electric vehicles and the batteries to run them could be manufactured.

To boost electric vehicle adoption in the country, the government has reduced goods and services tax on electric vehicles to 5% from 12%. Further, it will provide additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on interest paid on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles.

Previously, a mere €240 million (Rs1,870 crore) was set to flow into the giga-factory. The corporation’s management reasoned new demand for its battery cells made more investment necessary.

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S. used x-ray imaging to observe cracks forming in a solid state lithium battery, a discovery they say changes the understanding of performance of solid state batteries and which could lead to more durable systems.

Central government has thrown down the gauntlet to the nation’s largest motorbike and scooter manufacturers after they resisted a proposal to ban non-electric sales from 2025 onwards.

Though electric vehicles are up to 67% less emissions intensive than gasoline cars, their competitiveness depends on many factors like the source of electricity used for vehicle and battery manufacturing and charging. Given that India still has a high share of coal or other fossil fuels in its power mix, electrifying the current car taxi fleet would help it cut emissions faster than incentivising the use of privately owned EVs because of the taxis’ greater utilisation in terms of miles travelled.

Mining company Neometals and Manikaran Power have started a jointly funded study into the feasibility of establishing India’s first lithium refinery, which would process ore from the Mount Marion mine in Western Australia.