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India needs investments to the tune of ₹33,750 crore to achieve the government PLI target of setting up 50 GWh of lithium-ion cell and battery manufacturing plants, according to an independent study released by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
The country required up to 903 GWh of energy storage to decarbonise its mobility and power sectors by 2030, and lithium-ion batteries would meet the majority of this demand, it said.
Earlier this month, the government announced that it had established lithium-inferred resources of 5.9 million tonnes in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The CEEW study ‘How can India indigenise lithium-ion battery manufacturing?’, calculated the material and financial requirements and offered a blueprint for the domestic strategy as the country’s demand was expected to increase significantly, it reported.
The analysis was based on the minimum manufacturing plant capacity allocated under the PLI scheme – 5 GWh. These plants would also be energy-intensive – requiring 250 GWh of power annually for a 5 GWh plant – and require cheap and reliable power supply, the study stated.
Rishabh Jain, Senior Programme Lead, CEEW, said, “For a green future, minerals like lithium will be as important as oil and gas are today. It’s in India’s strategic interest to secure not just the mineral, but also set up the required cell and battery manufacturing systems within the country.’‘
“It will reduce our dependence on other countries in the long run, and power our grid and EV transition,” he further said.
To scale up domestic lithium-ion manufacturing, India should step up R&D investments, focus on battery cell component manufacturing and reducing material costs, and support recycling to reduce the need for new materials.
Also, to fulfil the overall battery demand, the country would need 969-1,452 kilotonnes of anode, cathode, and electrolyte material (the components for a battery) between 2022 and 2030, as per the study. To get there, the country has to focus on other energy storage technologies as well.
Therefore, the country has to focus on the strategic sourcing of critical minerals and pushing for research, development and demonstration in all technologies to retain competitiveness, the study recommended, adding reducing the cost of manufacturing batteries by innovating and updating manufacturing processes, and making policy changes to lower the cost of cell components would also be critical.
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