India’s largest automotive battery maker Exide Industries is all set to establish a lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facility in Bengaluru. In a communication to the exchange, the company said its subsidiary has executed a sales agreement to set up an 80-acre plant.
“The company has executed the lease cum sale agreement for procuring land parcel admeasuring 80 acres at Hitech, Defence & Aerospace Park, Phase-2, Bengaluru with Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB),” Exide Industries said in a regulatory filing. The company further said that the land will be used to set up a state-of-the-art green field multi-gigawatt li-ion battery cell manufacturing facility for the new-age electric mobility and stationary application businesses in India.
In December last year, Exide Industries signed a multi-year technical collaboration with a Chinese company SVOLT Energy Technology to set up an INR 6000-crore li-ion battery manufacturing plant in India.
“With SVOLT‘s strong technical expertise, R&D capabilities and rich experience in manufacturing lithium-ion batteries, Exide plans to set-up multi-gigawatt li-ion batteries. This strategic partnership is in line with Exide’s commitment to provide best-in class batteries and energy storage solutions for automotive and industrial applications,” Subir Chakraborty, MD & CEO, Exide, had said earlier.
In May, the company management said that the construction of the multi-gigawatt-scale greenfield Li-ion cell facility will be done in two-phases with phase one capex planned at INR 2,500 crore. Targeted to start over the next 3-4 years, the plant would have an initial annual production capacity of six gigawatt hours (GWh) with a goal to increase to 12 GWh in 8-10 years, the company’s senior executives said.
