EV batteries

Delhi based Avanze Inventive will set up the Lithium-ion cells manufacturing unit in the state of Andhra Pradesh with the help of the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB). The plant, with total size of 1 GW, will entail a total investment of Rs 1800 crore (US$ 256 million).

In a move to promote indigenous manufacturing, the government has doubled the basic import duty on lithium ion cells—used in manufacturing of lithium ion accumulator for EVs—to 10 per cent from April 2021. Battery packs used in manufacturing electric vehicles face tripled import duty of 15 per cent as against the current 5 per cent.

Aiming to localize production across the electric vehicle value chain, the government will support battery manufacturing at a gigawatt-scale. The initial focus will be on large-scale module and pack assembly plants by the next fiscal year, followed by integrated cell manufacturing by 2021-22.

The revenues of Switzerland-based Leclanché have increased more than 2.5 times to exceed CHF 47 million in 2018 compared to CHF 18 million in 2017.

Following New Delhi based Urja Global, Singapore-based Ojovati and another Delhi-based company Avanze Inventive have signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for manufacturing of Lithium-ion cells and batteries in the state, respectively.

New Delhi based Urja Global will set up an integrated plant for electric vehicles and Lithium-ion batteries at an investment of Rs 200 crore. The announcement comes hot on the heels of US-based Tecchren Batteries’ Lithium-ion venture in the state.

A new approach could extract carbon from polyethylenes in a cost-competitive way, that could be scaled up. Researchers have also performed electric testing with the extracted carbon and found it suitable for use as anodes in Li-ion batteries, among multiple other uses.

As India plans to set up large lithium-ion battery plants, the Lithium Triangle countries in South America (comprising Chile, Argentina and Bolivia) have offered to meet India’s growing demand for lithium.

Considering the remarkable advances made by the solar sector since the Rio ‘Earth Summit’ of 1992, PV was notable by its absence at the Convention of Parties climate change summit held by the UN in Poland.