Godi makes India’s first domestic lithium-ion cell as country’s manufacturing industry gathers pace
Indian battery maker Godi has manufactured its first lithium-ion batteries for use in electric vehicle applications.
The commercial grade NMC21700 cells were made at the firm’s Shamshabad facility, according to a report by the news outlet The Times of India.
Godi’s website says the firm provides rechargeable batteries (lithium-ion, sodium-ion, all solid-state) from cell to pack level for a variety of applications across automobiles, consumer electronics, and renewable energy storage sectors.
The company says its 21700 Energy Cell has a capacity of 4.8-5.2Ah and a 1,200 cycle life; its Power Cell boasts a capacity of 3-4Ah and a cycle life of 2,000.
The cells were designed, developed and manufactured by the domestic battery maker.
India’s reliance on imports
India relies on imported lithium-ion cells, but a number of domestic companies are working to set up manufacturing facilities.
One of those companies is lead battery maker Exide Industries, which announced last month it was planning to build a “multi-gigawatt” lithium-ion cell manufacturing plant in the country.
The firm’s board of directors has agreed to set up a green field lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility in India, according to an exchange filing report by The Economic Times newspaper.
The exact size and location of the plant has not been disclosed; however, as far back as August 2019 India’s biggest lead-acid battery maker said it would start producing lithium-ion cells from a new plant in Gujarat, India.
Nexcharge— a joint venture between Exide and Leclanché— has built India's largest factory equipped with fully automated assembly lines for lithium-ion battery packs, modules (pouch/ prismatic/ cylindrical) and cell testing laboratories in Gujarat.
Nexcharge is also supported by a state-of-the-art, in-house R&D facility in Bangalore. products at competitive prices.
India’s burgeoning capabilities
As far back as 2019, BEST was reporting on plans for India’s lithium-ion industry. They included at the time:
- The Tata Group has reportedly pledged INR4,000 crore ($600 million) towards building a lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant in Gujarat, India. A 126-acre parcel of land in the area has already been secured for the plant, which could boast up to 10GW of capacity, according to the Times of India.
- Car maker Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL)— a 56.21% owned subsidiary of the Japanese OEM Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC)— has said it will commission its battery manufacturing plant in Hansalpur, Gujarat by the end of next year.
- A joint project by SMC (50%), Toshiba (40%) and Denso (10%) plans to build a lithium-ion battery plant in Hansalpur with a reported IND1,151 crore ($180m) investment.
- Suzuki Motor Gujarat— a 100% subsidiary of SMC—completed construction of its second Gujarat plant, bringing its combined EV production capabilities to 500,000 units a year.
- Talks are under way for the Indian government’s first lithium-ion plant— a 1GWh factory to be built by state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and LIBCOIN consortium made up of Magnis Energy, Duggal Family Trust and Charge CCCV (C4V). It is part of the “Make in India, for India” programme and could be scaled up to 30GWh if the plans come to fruition. Incidentally, US-based C4V and Australian firm Magnis are part of the Imperium3 consortium planning to build a gigafactory in New York, US.
- Billionaire Gautam Adani announced in January he would invest in a lithium battery manufacturing complex in Gujarat.
- The state of Telangana aims to establish a lithium-ion gigafactory, according to NITI Aayog. The state wants to build a 5GWh plant, and has set aside a 200-acre parcel of land near Hybrabad for the factory.
