Highlighting that every household today is gadget run with a significant focus on electrification and making India reach the $ 5 trillion mark with smart mobility, infrastructure and manufacturing, Subir Chakraborty, MD & CEO, Exide Industries Limited, said, “India is on an upward growth trajectory and will witness an exponential surge in demand for energy and energy storage solutions. Multi-chemistry, multi-format is the future to support India’s growth story. We will see a combination of various chemistry solutions to together enable the dream.”
Chakraborty added that a chemistry solution's usage will depend on the application and end-use industries. “We will see lead acid, lithium-ion and other alternate battery chemistries (such as sodium-ion) to develop and grow together.”
Indicating that innovation and sustainability are at the core of the company’s growth, Chakraborty shared that the company’s ambitious plant at Bengaluru for lithium-ion batteries will be an iconic addition to the country with an installed capacity of 12 GWh and a total investment of INR 6,000 crore (as of now) to be made over Phase I and II of the project.
Phase I of the plant, with an installed capacity of 6GWh, will be operational by the end of FY25. The plant will also house an R&D centre that will undertake pilot experiments for the world. The new plant is developed in association with Chinese company SVOLT Energy Technology Co under a technology transfer agreement. It will enable Exide to develop global quality lithium-ion batteries at competitive prices.
To begin with, Exide will be importing the raw materials for the cell manufacturing plant. However, Chakraborty added that the opportunities within India in terms of primary raw materials and ones obtained from recycled batteries are also sort for.
“Lithium-ion battery technology is scalable in the energy space. While the supply chain needs to be developed further, we are hopeful to see India lead with examples both in development, usage and recyclability of batteries.”
Currently, Exide operates in the lithium-ion battery space under two wholly owned subsidiaries - Exide Energy Private Limited (EEPL) and Exide Energy Solutions Limited (EESL). EEPL manufactures lithium-ion battery modules and packs under the “Nexcharge” brand at the 1.5 GWh factory in Gujarat. It has an order book of INR 700 crore to be executed in 12-15 months.
EESL, on the other hand, is in the process of setting up the lithium-ion cell manufacturing plant in Bengaluru. The company said it has applied for the merger of the two entities into one with NCLT – Kolkata Bench – following which there will be only one wholly owned entity EES. The merger is expected to be completed within this fiscal.
According to Exide Industries Limited Annual Report 2022-23, the projected demand for lithium-ion batteries by 2030 is estimated to be around 150 GWh as per industry estimates. The company highlights that the demand for lithium-ion batteries is expected to split 70:30 between the automotive and industrial. While the higher adoption of electric vehicles will drive the automotive demand, the industrial demand will be led by the growing emphasis on ESG factors.
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