Electric vehicles in India are expected to soon sport indigenously developed as well as manufactured aluminium batteries, the Chairman of IOC Phinergy told Moneycontrol.
Currently, the company, a joint venture between IndianOil and Israeli start-up Phinergy, has produced a working prototype of ‘Aluminium-Air’ systems in India to boost the Centre’s flagship Make-in-India programme.
The technology for the aluminium-air battery systems comes from Phinergy.
For the uninitiated, the ‘Aluminium-Air’ battery system uses ‘Air-Cathode’ to capture the energy released as a reaction between oxygen and aluminium.
According to IOC Phinergy’s Chairman Sanjeev Gupta, the battery system is currently being tested by various automobile OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), including Tata Motors.
“In the mobility space, automobile manufacturers are testing the battery system in different weather conditions,” Gupta told Moneycontrol at the Auto Expo 2023 in Greater Noida.
“We hope that in the next one to one-and-a-half years, India’s roads will have cars running on these battery systems.”
Many advantages
Interestingly, the battery system based on aluminium does not require heavy charging infrastructure, which means it is not grid dependent.
Besides, it is faster to recharge the system than other traditional batteries.
In future, consumers would be required to “swap the battery stack and electrolyte” at existing IOCL outlets.
It is estimated that this process would take only around 5 minutes for a full energy reload, while it takes a minimum of 1 hour to charge a lithium-ion battery with fast-charging infrastructure.
According to Gupta, the advanced technology used in the battery generates energy via the reaction between oxygen and aluminium.
“It is a very safe battery system, as it is not affected by the high temperatures prevalent in India.”
Another advantage of the battery, Gupta said, is that the core aluminium component is completely recyclable.
A cheaper option
The new battery system is expected to be cheaper than traditional EV batteries that use lithium.
According to an initial techno-economic analysis, the aluminium air battery is estimated to be 20-30 percent cheaper than a li-ion battery on a TCO (total cost of ownership) basis.
Notably, the system uses aluminium, which is produced in India, as a core component rather than other elements that are scarce globally and expensive to import.
“A traditional battery has precious metals such as lithium, which are imported. So, we were only moving from oil and gas import to lithium import,” he said.
"We identified that in India aluminium is available in abundance, and it has great potential as a source of energy, as compared to lithium,” he said.
Incidentally, in comparison with oil and gas assets, lithium is restricted to very few countries.
Apart from development, testing and validation of the system, the battery will be manufactured in India.
“The entire battery will be manufactured in India. As of now, the cathode (component) is produced in Israel. But as per our arrangement, this will be made in India. This battery will not be manufactured in a typical factory as many components will be outsourced,” Gupta said.
“The aluminium plate will come from our partner Hindalco. The location of our assembly units will depend on which auto companies come on board with us,” he added.
Mass storage
In addition to mobility, the company is looking at the rollout of technology in mass electricity storage. “We are in discussions globally with many data centre companies because they guzzle a lot of power,” said Gupta.
“This technology can also be utilised for backup power in hospitals and factories,” he added.
Successful field trials have been conducted with a major telecom company in India and “we are currently discussing commercial terms”, said Gupta.
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