Research Projects

India is aggressively driving for the establishment of domestic supply chain for the manufacture of materials and batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) under mission mode to achieve the target of 30% of the vehicles manufactured must be electric by 2030. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are playing a vital role worldwide for EV applications owing to high energy/power densities and are being imported by all EV manufacturers. However due to tropical Indian conditions, high temperatures and lack of adequate quality controls, the imported LIBs cause many fire accidents. To alleviate these problems, there is a need for capacity building for the manufacture of materials as well as cells and packs including quality control is need of the hour. There is also a need to develop Na-ion batteries as an alternative to overcome the supply chain issues related to LIBs. Hence, creation of comprehensive design, research, proto-typing, and skill based eco-system is critical to have self-reliance and to achieve the Govt. of India mission on EVs. ARCI proposes for establishment of an e-Node on “Development and demonstration of materials and fabrication technologies for tropical batteries” in collaboration with academic & research institutes and industries to utilize the complementary expertise in developing materials and fabrication technologies as well as indigenous equipment. The proposal aims at pilot scale demonstration of electrode materials for Li-ion, Na-ion and Li-S batteries, as well as gel polymer electrolyte for solid state batteries, which are already developed and validated at lab scale. The proposal also includes establishment of 2 MWh rapid prototyping facility for the fabrication of cylindrical and prismatic cells, which will be useful not only to validate materials being developed by the consortium partners, but also to start-ups/MSMEs and other R&D institutes. Design and development of indigenous equipment for the fabrication of cylindrical and prismatic cells and bench-marking is also included in the proposed e-node. Apart from the technology development, the proposal is also structured for industry participation, knowledge development, skill generation, human resource and capacity building, which can be extended to start-ups and industries. As a whole, the present e-node will provide a single-stop solution for the development and demonstration of materials and fabrication technologies for commercialization.