Hyderabad: City startup plans to indigenise EV tech

Hyderabad: IIT Hyderabad-incubated start-up PURE EV in a statement on Wednesday said it is partnering with The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Central Electro Chemical Research Institute (CECRI) to indigenise lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology for electric vehicles.

The company has signed an MoU with CSIR-CECRI to undertake joint research on production of battery packs, validation of LIB cells and addressing the specific requirements to ensure the suitability of developed LIBs for critical performance at the Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) conditions.

Commenting on the partnership, PURE EV CEO Rohit Vadera said, "We will work closely with CECRI team in enabling them to realise the full potential of their initiative. We will carry out extensive testing for performance validation across various EV 2W (two-wheeler) models across the pan India terrain conditions and benchmark with respect to the imported cells and providing them crucial feedback to achieve mass scale commercialisation. Our extensive research and development work in the battery thermal management system gives us unique insights in the battery performance and lifecycle enhancement."

NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat said, "Achieving self-reliance and developing core competence in lithium cells manufacturing is critical for the emergence of electric vehicles as a predominant mode of transportation in India. Since we are starting from a low base, it is critical that the eminent institutions working in the cell manufacturing also collaborate with the industry partners who can carry out accelerated testing to provide the necessary feedback for further improvements."

CSIR-CECRI Director N Kalaiselvi said CECRI is working on mission mode under the project titled "CSIR Innovation Centre for Next Generation Energy Storage Solutions (ICeNGESS)", which would enable indigenous Lithium-Ion technology to help the country in addressing the requirements of its mission on electrification of two/three/four wheelers apart from stationary and storage applications.

"The emphasis of this program falls under the umbrella of Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiatives of the Government of India. We look forward to a very fruitful collaboration with PURE EV. We intend that such partnerships open up doors for further collaboration opportunities," he added.