India’s Exide Industries Ltd is in the final stages of introducing advanced absorbent glass mat (AGM) batteries for both domestic and international markets.
An Exide senior insider told BEST the news is a first. “In India this is the first time that AGM is being tried out by OEMs for their India vehicles, manufactured in the country. In fact Hyundai/Kia are the first OEM who have opted for an ‘under-bonnet’ SLI AGM.
“It is already a little more than six months that they have started to switch over to AGM, for all new passenger cars manufactured by them in this country, by getting the batteries imported from Korea or China (Delkor/Solite/Camel). Both Exide and Amra Raja are in the final stages of getting their respective designs qualified by Hyundai, at their Korea HQ.”
The Exide source said while AGM batteries have been used in India for UPS and other applications for the last 30 years, AGM SLI batteries are going to be something new. “We had (and still have) misgivings of using an AGM in under-bonnet application in a hot country like India but would like to be proven wrong.”
Hyundai has been asked for comment.
