Amara Raja to sign deal with Ather for lithium-ion cells

Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies Private Limited (ARACT), a wholly owned subsidiary of battery maker Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Limited (ARE&M), will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ather Energy.

As part of the agreement, Amara Raja will collaborate with Ather to develop and supply NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) and LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) lithium-ion and other advanced chemistry cells, produced locally at the battery maker’s upcoming Gigafactory in Divitipally, Telangana.

Amara Raja recently entered into an agreement with Gotion-InoBat-Batteries (GIB) that will facilitate it to localise current global LFP technology for making lithium-ion cells specifically suited for Indian conditions. The company also has an agreement with Jiangsu Highstar Battery Manufacturing Co. for NMC technology.

This comes at a time when the penetration of electric vehicles in scooters has hit 15%. Scooters account for one-third of India’s two-wheeler industry. Ather’s rival Ola Electric has invested about ₹500 crore to develop 1.4 gigawatt hour (GWh) capacity at its battery cell factory. Ola Electric secured the biggest 20 GWh allocation under the production-linked incentive scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) manufacturing. The IPO-bound startup plans to begin commercial production of cells early next year.

Both Amara Raja and Ather have chartered out ambitious plans to tap into this growing market potential. Ather Energy has two manufacturing facilities in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, with one dedicated to battery pack production and the other to vehicle assembly. Ather also has recently announced the setting up of another plant in Maharashtra.

Amara Raja also aims to be one of the largest manufacturers of Li-ion and other advanced chemistry cells in India. It had announced an investment outlay of ₹9,500 crore to establish a 16 GWh capacity gigafactory in Telangana. The company also submitted its bid for 10 GWh ACC PLI scheme in April along with Reliance Industries and JSW Neo Energy among others.

“Our focus has always been on designing and building products from scratch in India, with most of our components, aside from cells, sourced domestically. Now, we're taking a significant step forward by promoting homegrown cell technology. This will help us optimise costs and enable us to source lithium-ion cells tailored to Ather's specific requirements, further enhancing our ability to innovate and scale efficiently. Our aim is to help the domestic industry grow significantly to support India’s energy demand now and in the coming future,” says Tarun Mehta, co-founder and CEO at Ather Energy.

“Our recent collaboration with Gotion-InoBat will accelerate our efforts towards the same. We are proud to partner with Ather and together we will focus on building market relevant solutions in India’s journey towards indigenisation of Electric Vehicle technologies,” says Vikramaditya Gourineni, executive director, Amara Raja Energy & Mobility.