IESA, C-MET Conducted India’s 1st Li-Ion Cell Fabrication, Battery Testing Workshop

With an aim to initiate the process of starting Li-Ion battery manufacturing in the country, India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), India’s one of the leading alliance on energy storage and e-mobility, jointly with Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET) has organized India’s first 2-day training workshop for Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) cell fabrication and battery testing in Pune.

The motive behind organizing the workshop, designed by IESA, was to help in skill development required to kick start NITI Aayog’s National Mission for advanced battery manufacturing.

During the training program, experts from the two organisations assisted the industry participants in understanding and learning the fundamentals of advanced energy storage technology trends and Li-ion cell manufacturing process through a combination of classroom and hands on lab training.

Speaking about the workshop, Dr. Bharat Kale, Director of C-MET, said that “Through Centre of Excellence of reachable batteries created by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), New Delhi, CMET has the Li-ion fabrication facility for Cathode, Anode and for Single Cell. Currently, Indian battery manufacturers are importing singe cells and making batteries of different capacities required in different verticals. We’re glad that at CMET we have materials for battery fabrication. It is our responsibility to support the industry so that India can pick up Li-ion manufacturing instead of depending on other countries. India’s first workshop by IESA along with CMET is a step towards it. We thank MeitY for creating such a facility and further (Li-ion fabrication) initiative in this regard at CMET Pune”.

This program helped participants in understanding the requirements of raw material, equipment and detailed manufacturing processes essential to set up Giga factories and advanced R&D capabilities.

On the importance of battery manufacturing in India, Dr. Rahul Walawalkar, President of IESA, opined that “Li-ion battery has become preferred technology in many battery storage applications due to its relatively high energy and power density as well as fast charge discharge capabilities. The battery pack manufacturers in India are currently assembling high capacity packs with the goal to target electric vehicles and stationary storage market. Assembling of Li-ion battery packs is a dynamic industry in India and is growing at a healthy pace. At IESA, we, however, believe that it is high time for Indian industry to take up R&D and advanced cell manufacturing so that we reduce our dependence on other countries. The recent pandemic related to COVID19 has highlighted the importance of domestic manufacturing considering the risk of global supply chain disruptions. Energy storage and EVs have importance for national energy security and we should learn from the recent events and accelerate our efforts for building domestic capabilities”.

“So far such training was mainly available in developed countries such as Germany and US. This workshop is our effort to help bring down the costs of such training capabilities and help industry get better appreciation of the R&D facilities available within India. Our R&D initiative is industry- focused and we’re helping clients to solve the challenges that they are facing while deploying storage solutions for any application be it Stationary, EV or other,” said Dr. Satyajit Phadke, Manager-R&D of Customized Energy Solutions (India).