Battery maker Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies and electric vehicle maker Ather Energy have signed an MoU to develop and supply Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) and Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) as well as other advanced chemistry cells.
These will be produced at Amara Raja’s upcoming Gigafactory in Divitipally, Telangana. “With Ather, we will focus on building market relevant solutions in India’s journey towards indigenisation of electric vehicle technologies,” parent firm Amara Raja Energy & Mobility’s Executive Director Vikramaditya Gourineni said on Thursday.
Amara Raja had recently entered into an agreement with Gotion-InoBat-Batteries (GIB) that will facilitate it to localise current global LFP technology for making Lithium-Ion cells specifically suited for Indian conditions. The company also has an agreement with Jiangsu Highstar Battery Manufacturing Co. for NMC technology, the company said in a release.
“Our focus has always been on designing and building products from scratch in India, with most of our components, aside from cells, sourced domestically. Now, we’re taking a significant step forward by promoting homegrown cell technology. This will help optimise costs and enable us to source lithium-ion cells tailored to Ather’s specific requirements, further enhancing our ability to innovate and scale efficiently,” Ather Energy co-founder and CEO Tarun Mehta said.
Both Amara Raja and Ather have chartered out ambitious plans to tap into the growing market potential for electric vehicles. Ather has two manufacturing facilities in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, with one dedicated to battery production and the other to vehicle assembly. It recently announced the setting up of another plant in Maharashtra.
Amara Raja is setting up a 16Gwh capacity gigafactory in Telangana, in phases, with an investment outlay of Rs.9,500 crore. It is also establishing a state-of-the-art advanced research and innovation centre called ‘ePositive Energy Labs’ in Hyderabad.
