Tag: ev batteries

Reliance Showcases Multipurpose, Swappable Batteries for Electric Vehicles

Reliance Industries showcased its swappable and multipurpose battery storage technology for electric vehicles (EVs) on Wednesday, as it makes a big push on clean energy.

Reliance, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, displayed removable and swappable batteries for EVs that can also be used to power household appliances through an inverter at a renewable energy exhibition.

The idea is that a person can use one battery for mobility as well as for powering appliances at home, company executives at the event said, requesting not to be quoted as they are not authorised to speak with media.

The batteries can be swapped at Reliance’s battery swap stations or re-charged by households using rooftop solar panels, which also it plans to sell, the executives added. The executives did not clarify when the company planned to start selling these batteries.

Development of battery storage solutions is a part of Reliance’s bigger $10 billion green push towards clean energy projects. The company aims to cut dependence on its mainstay oil-to-chemical business and be net zero carbon by 2035.

The company acquired two battery companies for about $200 million in 2021 and 2022, respectively — UK-based Faradion that makes sodium-ion batteries, and Lithium Werks, that produces lithium iron phosphate (LFP)batteries. Reliance displayed LFP chemistry-based battery at the exhibition.

A company presentation at the event showed it is also working on customisable batteries for business and individual usage, intelligent swap stations and integrated charging networks. Reliance doesn’t plan to get in to EV manufacturing but will partner with EV makers, the presentation showed.

Reliance won an incentive last year to set up a 5-gigawatt hours (GWh) battery manufacturing facility under the government’s $2.4 billion programme that aims to boost local battery cell production.

The factory will be set up by 2026 and will make batteries and containerised energy storage solutions.

Clean auto technology is central to the country’s strategy of cutting pollution in major cities and reaching its broader climate goals. Electric vehicles currently make up a fraction of total sales in the country, mainly due to their high price as the batteries are imported, and a lack of charging infrastructure.

The government is trying to encourage swappable batteries to bring down costs and promote wider adoption of EVs.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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EV Maker BYD Said to Be Planning to Invest $1 Billion in India for Electric Cars, Batteries

China’s BYD has submitted a $1 billion (nearly Rs. 8,200 crore) investment proposal to build electric cars and batteries in India in partnership with a local company, three people with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters.

BYD and privately held Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructures have submitted a proposal to Indian regulators to form an EV joint venture, the people said, asking not to be named because the application is private.

The longer-term plan is to build a full line-up of BYD-brand electric cars in India from hatchbacks to luxury models, one of the three people said. 

BYD, the world’s largest producer of EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company previously said it planned to set up manufacturing in India, now the world’s third-largest car market.

India’s commerce and heavy industries ministries did not immediately reply to a request for comment. 

BYD’s push into India is part of its rapid global expansion to challenge Tesla, which still leads in sales of EVs alone. If the India investment is approved, it would give BYD a presence in all major global car markets with the exception of the United States. 

Tesla has recently restarted talks with India’s government after putting on hold plans to enter the market last year when it failed to secure lower tax duties on imported vehicles in talks with officials. 

BYD has already invested $200 million (nearly Rs. 1,650 crore) in India where it sells the Atto 3 electric SUV and the e6 EV to corporate fleets, and plans to launch its Seal luxury electric sedan this year. 

The total production capacity proposed by BYD was not immediately clear.

The maker of Blade batteries as well as finished EVs has plans to scale up to production of 1,00,000 EVs annually in India over a few years but would likely begin by shipping vehicles in parts for assembly in the country as it works to build up a supply chain, one of the sources said.

The investment proposal also includes a plan by BYD and Megha Engineering to set up charging stations in India and build research and development and training centres, the sources said.

The joint proposal comes amid stricter investment rules. Since 2020, India has tightened scrutiny of investments from neighbouring countries, including China.

Those controls forced China’s Great Wall Motor to shelve a plan to invest $1 billion in the Indian market and pushed Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC’s MG Motor unit to look for a local partner.

Shenzhen-based BYD entered the Indian market in 2007 producing batteries and components for mobile phone makers.

In 2013 it started building electric buses with Megha Engineering, under a joint venture company called Olectra Greentech.

BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, sold a total of 1.86 million BEVs and plug-in hybrids in 2022. In India, EVs made up just over 1 percent of total car sales of 3.8 million in 2022 but the government wants to grow this to 30 percent by 2030. 

In India, BYD will compete with domestic automaker Tata Motors and Chinese rival MG Motor that currently dominate electric car sales.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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For EV Batteries, Lithium Iron Phosphate Becoming Material of Choice

As the auto industry scrambles to produce more affordable electric vehicles, whose most expensive components are the batteries, lithium iron phosphate is gaining traction as the EV battery material of choice.

The popularity of the chemical compound known as LFP is due partly to environmental and geopolitical concerns. But technological advances have also reduced the performance gap with more widely used materials such as nickel and cobalt.

LFP, embraced by EV industry leader Tesla two years ago, has sparked new interest especially in the US, where a clutch of domestic and overseas manufacturers has pledged more than $11 billion (nearly Rs. 90,200 crore) in new production facilities.

Overseas, two of the world’s largest automakers, Toyota Motor and Hyundai Motor, have both announced plans in the past week to equip their future vehicles with LFP batteries, but have not disclosed plans for the US.

“LFP is less expensive than cobalt and nickel, and all the minerals can be obtained here in North America (which means) much lower transportation costs and a more secure supply chain,” said Stanley Whittingham, professor at Binghamton University in New York and a 2019 Nobel laureate for his work on lithium ion batteries.

The addition of manganese, a staple ingredient in rival nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) battery cells, has enabled lithium iron phosphate cells to hold more energy than previously, providing EVs with more range — up to 450 miles (724 km) on a single charge, Toyota said recently.

Michigan-based Our Next Energy, which is building a $1.6 billion (nearly Rs. 13,100 crore) battery manufacturing complex in Van Buren Township, is a proponent of LFP, according to founder and chief executive Mujeeb Ijaz, because “the materials are more abundant and sustainable, with far less risk” of fire.

“We’ve also demonstrated that you can match the range of cobalt cells with no compromise,” he said.

Tesla is among the automakers leading the quest in markets outside of China to provide lower-priced EVs — in Tesla’s case, targeting a base price of around $25,000 (nearly Rs. 20 lakh). The use of LFP batteries should help Tesla and rivals to achieve that goal, experts say.

Ford Motor aims to open a $3.5 billion (nearly Rs. 28,700 crore) LFP cell manufacturing plant in western Michigan, leveraging technology licensed from China’s CATL, the world’s largest EV battery maker. The goal, Ford CEO Jim Farley said in February, is to lower the automaker’s cell costs to less than $70 (nearly Rs. 5,800 crore) a kilowatt-hour, from more than $100 (nearly Rs. 8,000)/kWh for current NCM cells.

More than 90 percent of LFP materials and components still come from China, said battery expert Shirley Meng, a University of Chicago professor and head of Argonne National Laboratory’s Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science.

The rapidly increasing adoption of LFP by EV manufacturers including Tesla and Hyundai suggests those companies “are not ready to decouple from China,” Meng said. 

‘Attractive proposition’

Battery expert Lukasz Bednarski, author of the 2021 book “Lithium: The Global Race for Battery Dominance and the New Energy Revolution,” believes automakers’ interest in building lower-priced EVs could be one of the drivers behind LFP’s rising popularity.

“LFP provides good enough performance at a lower cost, which makes it an attractive proposition for EVs for the middle class,” he said.

Bednarski added that the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides incentives “for the development of the whole battery chain (with no) preference for LFP chemistry.”

Rising investment in LFP manufacturing facilities in the United States is coming not just from domestic companies like Ford and ONE.

Battery makers from Norway, Israel, South Korea and even China have committed to building US facilities to produce LFP materials, components and batteries, some of which will be used not in vehicles, but in large energy storage systems.

“LFP was invented in the US and first commercialised here,” said Whittingham. He said this happened before Chinese companies such as BYD and CATL “moved fast” to improve and deploy the technology, mainly in EVs. 

Now, given its continued cost advantage over NCM, he added, LFP “should be used in all grid storage systems and lower-cost cars.”

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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BIS Said to Roll Out New Performance Standards for EV Batteries to Ensure Consumer Safety

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has come out with performance standards for electric vehicle batteries in order to ensure the safety of consumers, a senior consumer affairs ministry official said on Thursday.

BIS, the national standards-setting body that functions under the consumer affairs ministry, has published the “performance standards for electronic vehicle batteries”, the official said.

The standard “IS 17855: 2022” has been formulated for lithium-ion traction battery packs and systems of electrically-propelled road vehicles and it has been harmonized with ISO 12405-4: 2018, the official added.

According to the official, the new EV batteries’ standard incorporates the test procedure for the basic characteristic of performance, reliability and electrical functionality for the battery packs and system for either high power or high energy application.

This standard is formulated considering real-life scenarios for an electric vehicle such as vehicle in parking (battery is not used for an extended period of time), the battery system is being shipped (stored) and operating battery at low and high temperature. Accordingly, various tests are incorporated in this standard.

Electric vehicles operate on an electric motor and rechargeable batteries. Over the past decade, electric vehicles have grown in terms of visibility and availability in the market. Most electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries because of their high power-to-weight ratio.

Considering the safety aspect of batteries for electronic vehicles, the BIS is in the process of publishing two more standards related to batteries for various passenger and goods carrying vehicles (L, M and N categories), the official said.

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