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Informist, Tuesday, Jul 16, 2024

 

--Amara Raja official: Completed construction of battery packs unit

--CONTEXT:Amara Raja arm building lithium-ion packs unit in Telangana

--Amara Raja: To start battery packs' unit commercial ops in few wks

--Amara Raja: Invested 2.5 bln rupees in battery packs unit so far

--Amara Raja: Phase-1 of battery packs unit to have 1.5 GWh capacity

--Amara Raja:To up capacity of battery packs unit to 5 GWh over 3 yrs

--Amara Raja:Talking to 2-wheeler, 3-wheeler cos to sell battery packs

--Amara Raja: Co importing cells for battery packs from China, Korea

--Amara Raja: Making battery packs on pilot basis at Tirupati unit

By Narayana Krishna

 

HYDERABAD - Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Ltd is set to begin commercial operations for phase-I of its greenfield lithium-ion battery cells assembly unit in the next few weeks, S. Vijayanand, president of the new energy business, told Informist. The company has invested around 2.5 bln rupees so far on the facility, which is part of its 95-bln-rupee giga corridor project in Telangana.

 

"As part of the giga corridor, the pack assembly facility phase one construction is complete, and we would be ready to commercially operate that in a short period of time...in the next few weeks,” Vijayanand said. The initial capacity of the battery packs facility will be 1.5 GWh, and it will be expanded gradually, he said.

 

Amara Raja Energy, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies Pvt Ltd, is building the Amara Raja Giga Corridor, with a 16 GWh capacity giga factory to make lithium-ion cells and a 5 GWh battery packs assembly unit in phases over 260 acres at the Telangana Energy Park in Divitipally, near Mahabubnagar, in Telangana.  

 

At 1355 IST, Amara Raja Energy shares traded at 1,575 rupees on the National Stock Exchange, down 1.4% from the previous close. 

 

The company is importing cells from either South Korea or China and building the battery packs required for two-wheelers and three-wheelers at this facility in the first phase. "We call it light electric vehicle applications. We also cater to light commercial vehicles. The initial facility is for the packs for these applications," Vijayanand said.

 

He said the company expects to scale up the battery packs' assembly facility to 5 GWh capacity in the next 3 years. He added that the battery packs consist of lithium-ion cells and BMS (battery management systems). Currently, nobody is making lithium-ion cell packs, Vijayanand said. Approximately 30-35% of value addition happens in converting a cell into a pack, he added.

 

"We are already doing this in Tirupati right now in a smaller facility on a pilot basis with nearly 0.5 GWh capacity. The Telangana facility will become the first larger one for packs," he said. The company is expanding the Tirupati battery packs facility as well, to make some categories of products.

 

Detailing the process involved in cell assembly packs, Vijayanand said converting imported cells into battery packs is not just packaging, but it needs to be configured to fit into the application for the given voltage and capacity of the pack.

 

For the lithium-ion battery packs unit, the company has developed its own technology, engineering, and product development capabilities, making it 100% in-house. The company is ready to make both NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) chemistry and LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) chemistry-based battery cell packs.

 

Vijayanand said the company is in talks with all major two-wheeler and three-wheeler manufacturers to sign supply deals under Original Equipment Manufacturers category. He said the company may also consider setting up new cell assembly units if any automobile company wanted battery unit close to manufacturing facility.

 

"As we work on our business, and we work with larger OEM customers for passenger cars, buses, and others, it might be required to set up a pack facility closer to the vehicle manufacturing facility, in which case, we will establish a pack facility at that site," he said. It may be a dedicated facility for that particular customer with 3-4 GWh capacity.

 

"We've been having discussions with almost all the vehicle manufacturers who are trying to get into electric vehicles," he said. He noted that the company is currently supplying battery packs for both three-wheelers and two-wheelers.

 

"Piaggio is one of our largest customers, and we are getting our product approved by many other OEMs. Because of the non-disclosure arrangement with the OEMs, I wouldn't be able to specifically name them but in both the two-wheeler and the three-wheeler segments, we are working with all large brands," he said. End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

 

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