India is continuously making efforts to increase its domestic battery production ecosystem amid mounting pressure for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy-storage systems. Announced battery-cell manufacturing projects currently total nearly 100-gigawatt hours (GWh) in capacity, a significant increase from the historical heavy reliance of India on importing the key lithium-ion cells. Still, a significant barrier to bringing on announced cell production and a holistic domestically sourced battery supply chain exists in the country.
The development is particularly important for India’s rapidly growing EV industry, where batteries make up a large portion of the total vehicle cost, directly impacting range, performance and cost-effectiveness. The strengthening of India’s indigenous battery cell manufacturing system could reduce its dependence on global supply chains and support India’s overall aspirations for electric mobility.
Driven by policy initiatives, including the Rs 18,100 crore Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, India has been promoting domestic ACC manufacturing. The programme plans for the manufacturing of large-scale battery cells and also focuses on domestic value addition.
As India’s EVs grow in number, India must develop its capability for large-scale manufacturing. Approaching 100 GWh of announced capacity marks significant progress, but the real hurdle will be turning those announcements into functioning factories, along with developing the domestic technologies and upstream supply chains necessary to make India’s EV battery ecosystem less dependent on the global value chains.
