October 24, 2019: Exide Industries, the Indian lead battery maker, will begin assembling lithium ion batteries in December under a contract with Swiss battery maker Leclanché, the company announced on October 16.
The news comes four months after the two firms agreed a joint venture, with Exide in control of 75%, Leclanché 25%.
Managing director and CEO of Exide Industries Gautam Chatterjee said when the deal was signed: “Since the government is focusing on the electric vehicle industry we thought to stay relevant we should go into this.
“We were looking for a company to help develop this and chose Leclanché to work with. Initially it will be limited to buses and two and three wheelers, but gradually this will expand and include all kinds of cars.
“This ideally complements our leading position in the lead acid storage battery market in India and will allow us to take the lead in the lithium-ion battery industry, which is expected to grow significantly in the next few years.”
The Indian government has created several incentives to increase the number of EVs with its Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles (FAME) schemes, which aim for 30% EV penetration by 2030.
The schemes include demand incentives for EVs and urge the deployment of charging technologies and stations in urban centres.
“However, the hype by over the move into e-vehicles — the Indian government had announced a couple of years ago that all new vehicles will be electric — has vanished,” says says L Pugazhenthy, head of the India Lead Zinc Development Association. “This has mainly been due to the sudden drop in automobile sales.
“Over the last few years India has been importing lithium-ion cells from China, South Korea and Japan; these imports are increasing while there is no indigenous manufacturer of lithium ion cells in India.
“India will eventually see a limited growth in EVs in the coming years, though largely it would be IC engine- driven vehicles meeting the revised emission norms. The key questions, however, are the cost of the lithium battery for the consumer and the facility for fast charging.”
According to the World Economic Forum, customs duties will also be waived on lithium batteries to bring down their cost. At the moment, however, the WEF says EV market presentation is just 1% of total vehicle sales in India and of that, 95% are two-wheelers.
