Indian Oil Corporation, a State-run fossil fuel giant, has partnered with Israel based startup Phinergy for development, customization, manufacturing, assembly and sale of aluminium-air batteries.
“IndianOil has taken a minority equity stake in Phinergy. The two companies are now in the process of forming a joint venture in India for collaboration in the field of Al-Air battery system including research & development, customization, manufacturing, assembly, sell and service of aluminium-air energy systems technology”—read an IndianOil statement.
Through the joint venture, IndianOil and Phinergy intend to set up a factory in India to manufacture Al-Air batteries for electric vehicles and stationary applications and facilitate development of eco-system for Al-Air technology.
Phinergy specialises in aluminium-air (Al-Air) and zinc-air battery systems that have great potential applications in electric mobility and stationary applications. Aluminium is naturally available in India and its extraction and recycling technologies are also very well established.
IndianOil’s collaboration with Phinergy in the field of Al-Air will help in reducing import dependence of the country.
Speaking about the partnership, IndianOil chairman Sanjiv Singh said that IndianOil is evaluating and firming up a number of opportunities to provide Indian automobile consumers feasible and scalable alternative energy options.
“We are confident that this Al-Air battery technology would complement Lithium ion batteries to provide a hybrid solution for large-scale adoption of electric vehicles in the country. Al-air battery technology has advantages on a number of factors like range, energy density, safety of operations, life-cycle, ..India-centric,” he added.
Phinergy is a start-up in clean and high energy-density battery systems based on metal-air technology, which generates electricity using aluminium or zinc as an energy source mainly.
Phinergy’s CEO David Mayer added, “Phinergy is glad to join forces with IOCL and share the vision of enabling clean and affordable energy solutions for India.”
Both companies are in discussions with leading auto manufacturers for adoption of this technology in three-wheelers, cars and buses, which have also shown interest in evaluation and subsequent adoption of this technology.
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Aluminium–air batteries are primary cells, i.e., non-rechargeable. Once the aluminium anode is consumed by its reaction with atmospheric oxygen at a cathode immersed in a water-based electrolyte to form hydrated aluminium oxide, the battery will no longer produce electricity
yep, which why Phinergy’s batteries were considered useless more than 10 years ago.
Maybe it’s just me, I’m beginning to suspect that an oil company doesn’t necessarily have the right intensions in letting BEV steal its bread & butter