Li-ion

Ionblox says it will use $32 million of series B funding to support the buildout of a novel silicon anode electric vehicle battery.

Battery swapping, solid-state batteries, second-life batteries, evolution from lithium to novel chemistries, and Cloud-based battery management system were the key trends in battery energy storage during the year.  

The Mumbai-headquartered lithium battery manufacturer plans working capital finance of INR 35 crore and equity investment of INR 15 crore to increase production capacity and fulfil orders from large OEMs.

US-based ACE Green is setting up lithium battery recycling plants in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, where it will use a zero-waste hydrometallurgical recycling process to extract valuable materials from dead batteries.  

The automotive battery major will invest INR 9,500 crore over the next ten years to set up a 16 GWh lithium cell factory, 5 GWh battery pack assembly unit, and research and innovation center in Telangana.

The company already has a state-of-the-art lithium battery recycling plant in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, with a recovery efficiency of more than 98% across various battery materials. It said the new plant in Telangana will increase its Li-ion battery recycling capacity to 19,500 MT by the end of 2023 from the current 4,500 MT.

Bengaluru-based Metastable Materials has developed a 100% chemical-free process for extracting metals out of scrap Li-ion batteries. It has set up an ‘Urban Mining Unit’ on the outskirts of Bengaluru, which is capable of processing up to 1,500 tonnes of dead batteries per annum. This unit will start production early next year. Shubham Vishvakarma, founder and chief of process engineering at Metastable Materials, speaks to pv magazine about the role of urban mining in meeting India’s electric mobility ambitions and the advantages of the process developed by them. 

US-based Mango Power has developed a 3.5 kWh battery system that can be expanded up to 14 kWh. The product features LFP battery cells from CATL and can be charged through AC wall outlets, with solar panels, or via electric-vehicle chargers.

Cobalt is key for boosting energy density and battery life, but it comes with caveats: expensive, scarce, and linked to unethical mining practices, wild price fluctuations, and a tenuous supply chain. In recent years, battery manufacturers and automakers have intensified efforts to reduce or eliminate cobalt in lithium-ion cathodes. But sometimes, old habits die hard, as pv magazine’s Marija Maisch explains.

Kelwon has introduced Lithium battery inverters as a compact and safe alternative to conventional lead-acid battery inverters. These inverters have an inbuilt lithium battery, which can be charged with solar as well as grid electricity.