For EV Battery Production In The Country, India To Build 4 Power Plants

Harin - Jul 29, 2019

To meet the increasing energy demands, the country’s government plans to deal with energy supply and demand through building power plants.

The country’s current shift to using electric vehicles will put a major pressure on the country’s energy resources. To meet the increasing energy demands, the country’s government plans to deal with energy supply and demand through energy storage, which is batteries. The country will soon build its own battery manufacturing plants.

The idea behind these plants has been inspired by the gigafactories of Tesla. The power plants have been used to produce Tesla electric cars’ lithium-ion batteries. For India, the country will be building at least four gigafactories. The whole project is estimated to have a cost of about Rs 27,500 crore.

Tesla-Gigafactory — Tesla's gigafactory.

A senior government official said, “We are moving ahead with the plan and a cabinet note for the same has been floated." He emphasized how India is one of the world’s largest EV markets. Therefore, the country should have its own lithium-ion battery production, which will further boost the production of EVs.

Each of the gigafactories has a capacity of 10-gigawatt hours (GWh). Besides electric vehicles, the country’s electric grids and consumer electronics industry can also benefit from the battery storage. According to think tank Niti Aayog, India will need six gigafactories like these by 2025 and 12 by 2030.

For the same amount of time, each GWh can power 10 lakh homes or around 30,000 electric cars.

Energy storage can also help with the renewable energy sector. One of the reason is the irregular output of energy sources like solar and wind. With energy storage, the flow of energy would be regulated, which will provide extra electricity in peak times or store it when there is excess production.

Such a solution can boost the growth of India, especially when it is among the country’s renewable energy top producers. Moreover, these gigafactories’ batteries will be much cheaper than those from countries such as China. And eventually, this would lower the prices of EVs in the country, helping them become more affordable. Thus, there will be more people using them.