The Indian government is considering incentivising domestic carmakers to set up their own lithium-ion battery plants in the country. The idea is to lower the cost of electric vehicles in India and make local cars more competitive.
It’s part of India’s plans to push the sales and production of electric vehicles in the country through schemes such as FAME-India (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (hybrid &) Electric vehicles in India).
Secretary in the department of heavy industry, Girish Shankar, said: “We need to develop indigenous production capabilities for lithium-ion batteries so that electric vehicles can become affordable.”
Anant Geete (pictured), Union heavy industry minister, told the Press Trust of India: “Today the only country manufacturing lithium batteries is China, so business will increase for them as we push electric mobility in India. This is a matter of happiness for them. However, their happiness will be short-lived. We do not want to give this happiness to China for a long time therefore we are making efforts for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries in India.”
Geete also said efforts are being made to remodel the battery made by Indian Space Research Organisation so that it can be used in electric vehicles.
“We are trying to establish a manufacturing facility with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited entailing an investment of Rs100 crore ($15.5m). Maruti also wants to invest Rs 2 lakh crore ($31 billion) for manufacturing lithium batteries,” Geete said.