Amara Raja Batteries, the country’s second-largest automotive battery maker, has opened the country’s maiden technology hub to develop lithium-ion cells, at its Tirupati facility in Andhra Pradesh.
The advanced lithium-ion technology research hub, the pilot project located at its headquarters in Tirupati, will become the country’s first lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility in the private sector over the next few years, Amara Raja Batteries CEO S Vijayanand told PTI.
The company has a technology transfer agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) since early 2019. Vijayanand said Amara Raj has already invested Rs 20 crore into the hub, excluding technology transfer and bidding fees paid to the ISRO in January 2019 when the company along with nine others won competitive bids from the national space agency.
The agreement with ISRO for the lithium-ion cell technology transfer is without any royalty payment, he said. Ten companies that got the technology licence have to pay only the bidding fees and technology transfer fees that have already been paid by Amara Raja, he said.
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Despite pushing lithium-ion cell development, Vijayanand feels lead-acid batteries will continue to grow at least for a few more decades and that lithium cells used in electric vehicles will take time to get commercial traction.
Currently, the electric vehicle (EV) makers import the cells mostly from China.
Amara Raja Batteries, the country’s second-largest automotive battery maker, has opened the country’s maiden technology hub to develop lithium-ion cells, at its Tirupati facility in Andhra Pradesh.
Amara Raja begins work on lithium-ion cells, sets up research hub at Tirupati, February 21, 2021
