The Tata group has signed an agreement with the Gujarat government to establish a lithium-ion cell factory. The company will invest approximately Rs 13,000 crore ($1.6 billion). This manufacturing plant will support India’s aim to develop its own electric vehicle (EV) supply chain.
The electric car market in India is rather small compared to the nation’s population. Currently, Tata Group dominates the electric vehicle market, which made up about 1 percent of the total car sales last year.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Vijay Nehra, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat, and Rakesh Ranjan, CEO of Agratas Energy. A joint statement on the memorandum of understanding, between Tata’s unit Agratas Energy Storage Solutions and the Government of Gujarat, said that work on the plant will start in less than three years.
“The plant will go a long way in contributing to the development of the EV ecosystem in Gujarat and India,” said Vijay Nehra. The plant will be based in Sanand, Northern Gujarat and will have an initial manufacturing capacity of 20 Gigawatt hours (GWh). The manufacturing capacity is likely to be doubled in a second phase of expansion.
The establishment of the Tata electric vehicle battery plant in Gujarat will reduce India’s dependence on Korea and China, which are currently the biggest battery suppliers to India.
