India is a developing country, and aiming for a better future is a must. India always tries to unlock new platforms to excel in various disciples. In the context of electric vehicles, India is aiming to become a global hub for this. However, the lack of access to lithium is lagging. India’s Lithium requirements got fulfilled by importing it from China. China supplies Lithium chemicals that have purposed to make cathodes and battery cells.
South Asian nation is also suffering due to a lack of lithium resources. This lack is a big hurdle to their vision of creating new energy vehicles. This vehicle will help in cleaning up its toxic air.
Considering the situation of lack of lithium resources, Jasmeet Singh Kalsi director at Manikaran Power Ltd. is planning to set up India’s first lithium refinery.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approves $1.4 billion to make India a manufacturing hub for EV’s. As per the records, the market for electric vehicles is much lower than fossil fuel-powered cars. The estimated sold of these in 2018 is 3000 for electric vehicles and 3.4 million for fuel-based wheels. These estimated ratios predicted that India would become the fourth largest market for EVs by 2040.
India is making all efforts to build lithium-ion battery factories. Although China remains dominant in this market as they have around three-quarters capacity to manufacture battery cell. All this makes them the largest vehicle market in the world.
Indian companies are trying to attain some shares in overseas resources to enrich India’s raw material production capacity. Besides all these battery components, manufacturing doesn’t fit with India right now. There is still a lot more effort to reach this aim.
Opening a lithium-ion manufacturing plant is a significant concern. Many companies are coming forward to look into this matter and invest for the same. National Aluminum Co., Hindustan Copper Ltd., and Mineral Exploration Corp. have formed a joined venture, namely Khanji Bridesh India Ltd., to acquire lithium and cobalt mines overseas. On the other hand, Country’s second-biggest traditional battery maker Amara Raja Batteries Ltd., is looking forward to creating a lithium-ion assembly plant. Apart from these three companies Toshiba Corp., Denso Corp., Suzuki Motor Corp. have collaborated to develop lithium-ion battery manufacturing plants.
Manikaran signed an Agreement with Australia’s Neometals to fund this project of building lithium refinery in India in June. The target is to set up a capacity of 10,000 tons to 15,000 tons of finished product. This value is not able to reach the Country’s requirement, but it is an excellent effort to excel in the production of lithium.
The market of electric vehicles will reach the apex, and that time these efforts will be paid off.