Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies Private Limited (ARACT) will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ather Energy. As part of this agreement, Amara Raja will collaborate with Ather to develop and supply NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) and LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) Lithium-Ion (Liion) and other advanced chemistry cells, produced locally at their upcoming Gigafactory in Divitipally, Telangana.
Amara Raja 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. With India focused on clean and green energy, the automotive industry is witnessing a big transition towards electric vehicles (EVs), particularly in the two-wheeler segment. Industry projections point towards EV 2W penetration to reach 40 percent by 2030.
Both Amara Raja and Ather have chartered out ambitious plans to tap into this growing market potential. Ather Energy has two manufacturing facilities in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, with one dedicated to battery production and the other to vehicle assembly. Ather also has recently announced the setting up of another plant in Maharashtra.
Amara Raja is committed to providing products and solutions for e-mobility and energy storage markets and aims to be one of the largest manufacturers of Li-ion and other advanced chemistry cells in India. It had announced an investment outlay of INR 9,500 crore to establish a 16Gwh capacity gigafactory in Telangana. Additionally, the company is all set to lead India’s R&D capabilities by establishing a state-of-the-art advanced research and innovation centre called ‘ePositive Energy Labs’ in Hyderabad.
Tarun Mehta, Co-founder & CEO at Ather Energy, said, “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 us optimize costs and enable us to source lithiumion cells tailored to Ather’s specific requirements, further enhancing our ability to innovate and scale efficiently. Our aim is to help the domestic industry grow significantly to support India’s energy demand now and in the coming future.”
Vikramaditya Gourineni, Executive Director, Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Ltd said, “We immensely respect Ather’s contribution to electrify mobility in India and their unique approach to overall eco-system development for sustainable personal mobility solutions. At Amara Raja, we have significantly progressed in our efforts to building world-class facilities to manufacture cell and battery packs customised for Indian conditions. Our recent collaboration with Gotion-InoBat will accelerate our efforts towards the same. We are proud to partner with Ather and together we will focus on building market relevant solutions in India’s journey towards indigenisation of Electric Vehicle technologies.”