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CONTENTS

VOLUME 9 – ISSUE 1 • JAN-MAR 2022

10

07

From The Editor

NEWS

08

National Update

16

International Update

COVER FEATURE

24

Year of the

Li-ion: Time to

scale up

LEADERSHIP SPEAK

28

Anchal Sondhi, VP

Growth – Fluence,

APAC Region

24

16

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY NEWS Jan–Mar 2022

5

ENERGY STORAGE

32

Expanding storage in the

India grid

13 21

34

Dual carbon batteries

for high-voltage

applications

36

Battery swapping

stations for grid

stability

CLEAN ENERGY

38

Way to net-zero

GWh

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

2021 2031 2031 2031

Ref

-4hr Battery -6hr Battery Pumped Hydro

32

34

E-MOBILITY

40

Mission 'Shoonya': zero

pollution mobility

40

SAFETY

42

Charging safety

of EVs

Jan–Mar 2022

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY NEWS

FROM THE EDITOR

7

The war in Europe and its ripple effect

The world, for the best part of post-WW II, has pursued unification,

built up tremendous inter-dependency across continents and reduced

itself to being referred to as a ‘global village.’ Then all of a sudden

BOOM! The Russo-Ukraine conflict has revived a stand-off between the

old enemies of the cold-war.

WAR IS HELL and our thoughts and prayers go out to those afflicted

by this terrible man-made humanitarian crisis. War is also extremely

energy intensive and polluting. Barrels of carbon based fuel is burned

in deployment and attack: fighter jets let out the dirtiest emissions in

massive quantities, pollution from tanks, the 40-mile-long convoy of

Russian vehicles, a stream of supply vehicles, also those transferring

massive amounts of arms into Ukraine, generators, burning armaments

and infrastructure, all sending clouds of carbon dioxide into the

atmosphere.

NATO members were already increasing defense spending before the

war; additionally now, East European countries, with US aid, are flying

in more patrols along their borders. Increased militarization means more

greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere warming the planet at

its most critical time. Today, with the precarious temperature at which the

world stands every day’s non-reduction of carbon into the atmosphere

adds to the already dangerous state of climate change.

At the COP26 of November 2021 the intentions to align with net-zero

by 2050 were never more serious. After all, in the recent past Nature had

shown her wrath by battering the Earth with hurricanes, landslides, floods, wildfires and much more - sparing neither

the developing nor the developed world. Now the war has brought about fears that climate action could be placed

on a back-burner. Many governments have turned their attention to energy security. A case in point is Europe, which

relies on Russian exports for almost 70 percent of its coal, oil and gas. Russia in turn relies heavily on the income

from these exports.

A silver lining is that some world leaders are calling for accelerating clean energy technologies; others speak of

increasing domestic fossil fuel supplies to reduce Russian imports.

Where do energy storage and e-mobility stand in this scenario? Supply chains, just limping back to normal have

gone into disruption so production lines are slowing again. The rising crude prices will be passed on to the public by

the government. The effect will mean a rise in general inflation. Important raw materials for car manufacture have

shot up. Prices for nickel, a key metal to increase energy density in lithium-ion batteries, shot sky-high. Now EV

penetration across the globe could slow, just when it was picking up.

However, considering the high cost of Li-ion batteries,

OEMs have been experimenting with other chemistries like

lithium iron phosphate or LFP, which are less dependent

on nickel. LFPs are cheaper batteries, but they have lower

The war has brought about

fears that climate action

could be placed on a backburner

Ashok Thakur

Editor-In-Chief

athakur@ces-ltd.com

energy density. The sodium-ion (Na-ion) battery too makes

a strong case for cost efficiency due to the abundance of

sodium in sea water as well as the use of manganese. Both

these materials avoid unethical sourcing; the end-use here

is pure drinking water. However, the Na-ion battery is less

energy dense than Li-ion.

GoI has recently passed the National Hydrogen Mission

for Green Hydrogen production and export. GH will contribute

strongly to boost energy self-reliance. With hydrogen in the green-fuel kitty, India is well placed to tick off the five

commitments made by Prime Minister Modi at COP 26: to achieve Net Zero by 2070; take cumulative non fossil

fuel generation capacity to 500 GW by 2030; meet 50 percent of energy needs from renewable energy; reduce the

energy intensity of the economy by 45 percent; reduce carbon emissions by 1 billion tons.

At a time when the war in Europe is severely damaging the environment, putting millions of lives at risk and

cancelling efforts to slow global warming, India should stand out as a nation that stood up to its commitments to

save Mother Earth.

Jan–Mar 2022


8 NATIONAL NEWS

Exide Industries

has signed a longterm

technical

collaboration

agreement with

SVOLT Energy Technology of China.

As per the agreement, SVOLT will

grant Exide an irrevocable license

to use, exploit and commercialize

necessary technology and knowhow

owned by them for lithium-ion

cell manufacturing in India.

Energy

Storage

Further, SVOLT will also provide

the required support for setting

up a state-of-the-art greenfield

manufacturing plant on a turnkey

basis. As a spin-off of the Chinese

carmaker Great Wall Motors, SVOLT

produces Li-ion batteries and battery

systems for EVs and energy storage,

targeting international markets.

The company's comprehensive

one-stop product portfolio includes

battery materials, cells, modules,

packs, BMS, and energy storage

systems. SVOLT is currently focusing

on growing its global footprint and

is expanding its capacities to meet

the increasing demand for battery

applications.

Commenting on the development,

Subir Chakraborty, MD & CEO -

Exide to collaborate with SVOLT for

Li-ion cell manufacturing

Image for representation only

Exide Industries, said: "Exide is

excited to partner with SVOLT as

this collaboration is a major step

forward in Exide's aspiration of

becoming a leading player in the

rapidly emerging new-age electric

mobility and stationary application

businesses in India".

"With SVOLT's strong technical

expertise, R&D capabilities, and

rich experience in manufacturing

lithium-ion batteries, Exide plans to

set up a multi-gigawatt Li-ion cell

manufacturing facility. Spread out

across two popular cell chemistries

Ola Electric plans 50 GWh battery

manufacturing plant in India

Softbank Group-backed Ola Electric

has announced that it plans to build

a battery cell manufacturing plant in

Ola e-scooter

Source: Ola Electric

India with a capacity of up to 50GWh

as part of its larger electrification push.

According to sources, Ola will need

40GWh of battery capacity to meet its

annual target to produce 10 million

electric scooters and the remainder

will be for electric cars, which it plans

to manufacture in the future.

The preliminary plan is to set up

1GWh of battery capacity by 2023

and expand it to 20GWh over the next

three-four years, which alone will need

an investment of up to $1 billion.

Ola, currently importing battery

cells from South Korea, also

plans to capitalize in companies

with advanced cell and battery

and three cell formats, this unit shall

be uniquely placed to cater to the

diverse requirements of customers

in India".

Exide is in the process of forming

a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) by

way of a wholly-owned subsidiary,

for carrying out the said Li-ion

cell manufacturing business. The

company has participated in the

recently notified Production-Linked

Incentives (PLI) Scheme for National

Programme on Advanced Chemistry

Cell (ACC) Battery Storage, issued

by the Ministry of Heavy Industries.

technology and will set up a battery

research and development facility in

India, the sources said.

India wants companies to build

clean fuel vehicles and batteries

locally to cut the country's oil import

bill and reduce pollution. The

government plans to give incentives

of up to $6 billion for this, and Ola is

among those that have bid for them.

The battery plans come even

as the company is yet to ramp up

scooter production to a substantial

level. Ola at present produces about

1,000 scooters a day, its CEO stated

on Twitter, and has a target of two

million in the first phase.


9

HPCL, SECI sign MoU for green energy projects

The Ministry of New

and Renewable

Energy, India has

announced that

Hindustan Petroleum

Corporation Ltd

(HPCL) and Solar Energy Corporation

of India Ltd (SECI) have signed a pact

for cooperation and partnership in the

Renewable

Energy

field of RE, e-mobility, and alternative

fuels comprising the development of

ESG Projects.

The ministry said that to realize

green energy objectives and the

government's efforts towards a

carbon-neutral economy, an MoU

has been signed between HPCL and

SECI.


Greenko, Ayana partner for creating RE storage capacity

Greenko Group and NIIF-backed

Ayana Renewable Power (Ayana)

have announced that they have

entered into an arrangement to

provide standalone storage capacity,

in a template that sets a standard for

such transactions in India.

Under the partnership, the

companies will develop firm and

dispatchable RE solutions including


a round-the-clock power supply of up

to 1GW to industry and distribution

companies in India.

Greenko Group has offered in

total 6,000 MWh of storage capacity

including 1500 MWh of storage

capacity in the first tranche from its

proprietary 'Off Stream Closed-Loop

Pumped Storage Project' being

developed at Pinnapuram, Andhra

Pradesh.

Commenting on the cooperation,

Mahesh Kolli, Founder President and

Joint Managing Director of Greenko

said: "This partnership between

Ayana and Greenko is in line with

the Ministry of Power and Ministry of

New and Renewable Energy mission

to create a standalone storage

market in India. Such integrated

renewable energy and storage

projects, offering solutions superior to

conventional energy sources in terms

of dispatchability and round-the-clock

supply, reflect the growing maturity of

the renewable sector in India."

Shivanand Nimbargi, MD & CEO

of Ayana Renewable Power said:

"This transaction marks the first time

two Independent power producers

have joined hands to facilitate the

decarbonization goals of industrial

clients in India by developing storage

infrastructure that will support India's

commitment to creating 500 GW of

RE capacity by 2030 and reducing

the emissions intensity of GDP by 45

percent by 2030."

Husk Power raises funds from IREDA for microgrids in India

Husk Power Systems has announced

the successful close of `310

million ($4.2 million) debt financing

from the India Renewable Energy

Development Agency (IREDA) Ltd.

Besides the IREDA loan, Husk

anticipates raising an additional

$18 million in debt in 2022 to fuel

accelerated project deployment,

while also kicking off fundraising for

a Series D equity round in Q1. The

company has built a robust project

pipeline in both India and Africa and

expects to have about 1,300 grids in

operation by 2025 across multiple

markets.

The new India debt, part of a

line of credit provided by German

development bank KfW to IREDA

to assist developers in scaling offgrid

energy projects, will be used

to finance 140 microgrids in the

States of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,

where Husk has been serving rural

communities since 2008, including

thousands of micro, small and

medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

IREDA is a State-owned nonbanking

financial institution (NBFI)

under the administrative control

of India's Ministry of New and

Renewable Energy (MNRE). It

promotes, develops, and extends

financial assistance to renewable


energy projects.

"The IREDA financing

demonstrates the Government of

India's vision in making microgrids

an integral part of its net-zero goal

put forward at COP26," said Husk

CEO and Co-Founder Manoj Sinha.

Husk recently signed an Energy

Compact with the United Nations,

committing to build 5,000 microgrids

with 1 million connections by 2030 in

India, Nigeria, and other countries in

South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Jan–Mar 2022


10

H 2

Ministry of Power releases Green

Hydrogen/ Ammonia policy

Hydrogen

Hydrogen

and ammonia

are envisaged

to be the future fuels to replace

fossil fuels. Production of these

fuels by using power from

renewable energy - termed green

hydrogen and green ammonia -

is one of the major requirements

towards

environmentally

sustainable energy security of the

nation. The government of India

is taking various measures to

facilitate the transition from fossil

fuel/fossil fuel-based feedstocks to

green hydrogen / green ammonia.

In the direction of the same,

the Ministry of Power has notified

that it has released the Green

Hydrogen policy, a major step in

this endeavor.

The policy provides as follows:

● Green Hydrogen / Ammonia

manufacturers may purchase

renewable power from the power

exchange or set up renewable

energy capacity themselves or

through any other, developer,

anywhere.

● Open access will be granted

within 15 days of receipt of the

application.

● The Green Hydrogen / Ammonia

manufacturer can bank his

unconsumed renewable power,

for up to 30 days, with the

distribution company and take it

back when required.

● Distribution licensees can

also procure and supply RE

to the manufacturers of green

hydrogen / ammonia in their

States at concessional prices,

which will only include the

cost of procurement, wheeling

charges, and a small margin

as determined by the State

Commission.

● Waiver of inter-State transmission

charges for 25 years will be

allowed to the manufacturers of

green hydrogen/ammonia for the

projects commissioned before

June 30, 2025.


● The manufacturers of green

hydrogen / ammonia and the

renewable energy plant shall

be given connectivity to the grid

on a priority basis to avoid any

procedural delays.

● The benefit of Renewable

Purchase Obligation (RPO)

will be granted incentive

to the hydrogen/ammonia

manufacturer and the distribution

licensee for consumption of

renewable power.

● To ensure ease of doing business

a single portal for carrying out all

the activities including statutory

clearances in a time-bound

manner will be set up by MNRE.

● Connectivity, at the generation

end and the green hydrogen /

ammonia manufacturing end,

to the ISTS for RE capacity

set up for manufacturing green

hydrogen / ammonia shall be

granted on priority.

● Manufacturers of green hydrogen

/ ammonia shall be allowed to

set up bunkers near ports for

storage of green ammonia for

export/use by shipping. The

land for the storage for this

purpose shall be provided by

the respective Port Authorities at

applicable charges.

The implementation of this

Policy will provide clean fuel to

the common people of the country.

This will reduce dependence on

fossil fuels and reduce crude oil

imports. The objective also is for

our country to emerge as an export

Hub for green hydrogen / ammonia.

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi launched the National

Hydrogen Mission on India's 75th

Independence Day (August 15,

2021). The Mission aims to aid the

government in meeting its climate

targets and making India a green

hydrogen hub. This is supposed to

help meet the target of production of

5 million tons of green hydrogen by

2030 and the related development

of renewable energy capacity.


Adani, Ballard Power MoU for investment in

H2 fuel cell

11

Adani Group and Ballard Power

Systems have announced that they

have partnered to explore a joint

investment in hydrogen fuel cell

manufacturing in India. Under the

MoU, both parties will assess various

options to cooperate, including

potential collaboration for fuel cell

manufacturing in India, Adani group

said in a statement.

Efforts under the MoU will be

anchored by Adani New Industries

Limited (ANIL) - the newly formed

subsidiary of Adani Enterprises

- focused on the generation

of green hydrogen, including

downstream products, green

electricity generation, manufacture

of electrolyzers and wind turbines,

among others.

"Green hydrogen is the fuel of the

future and fuel cells will be a gamechanger

in India's energy transition,"

said Vneet S Jaain, Director - ANIL.

"Our ability to build a world-class

green hydrogen value chain will

be critical in facilitating the energy

transition and we are excited to

partner with Ballard, a global leader

in fuel cell technology, to create a

shared fuel cell ecosystem in India.

“We are excited to partner

with Adani given Gautam Adani's

inspiring leadership and the highly

complementary assets across

the group portfolio,” stated Randy


MacEwen, Ballard's President &

CEO, in a statement. “India signifies

a new growth opportunity for Ballard,

and we look forward to working

with the Adani group to support and

accelerate their energy transition and

decarbonization goals,” he added.

vishal.morab@ces-ltd.com

Jan–Mar 2022


12

MHI approves 20 companies under

‘Champion OEM Incentive Scheme’

Ministry of

E-mobility

Heavy Industries

(MHI) India has

announced

that it has received a total of 115

applications from companies under

the Production Linked Incentive

(PLI) Scheme for Automobile and

Auto Component Industry in India,

which was notified on September

23, 2021.

Incentives are applicable under

the scheme for Determined Sales of

Advanced Automotive Technology

(AAT) products (vehicles and

components) manufactured in India

from April 1, 2022 onwards, for a

period of 5 consecutive years.

The government approved the

PLI Scheme for enhancing India's

manufacturing capabilities for

advanced automotive products

with a budgetary outlay of `25,938

crore. The scheme for Automobile

and Auto component industry

proposes financial incentives to

boost domestic manufacturing of

Advanced Automotive Technology

(AAT) products and attract


investments in the automotive

manufacturing value chain. Its prime

objectives include overcoming cost

disabilities, creating economies of

scale, and building a robust supply

chain in areas of AAT products. It

will also generate employment. This

scheme will facilitate the Automobile

Industry to move up the value chain

into higher value-added products.

MHI has processed the

applications received under

two categories of the scheme:

the Champion OEM Incentive

Scheme, for which 20 applicants

(along with their 12 subsidiaries)

have been approved; and the

Component Champion Incentive

Scheme, for which applications are

being processed separately.

Revised guidelines for public EV charging

The Union Ministry of Power (MoP)

has recently issued the revised

and consolidated guidelines

and standards for EV charging

infrastructure in the country.

'Charging Infrastructure for

Electric Vehicles—Guidelines and

Standards' was released on January

14, 2022, which describes the

roles and responsibilities of various

stakeholders at the central and State

level for the expeditious deployment

of public EV charging infrastructure

in India.

The latest amendments to the EV

charging guidelines and standards

touch upon the following aspects:

● To provide an affordable tariff

chargeable by public EV charging

station operators and owners and

Electric Vehicle (EV) owners.

● Enable owners to charge EVs

at their residences or offices

using their existing electricity

connections.

● A revenue-sharing model has

been suggested for land use

to make a public charging

station financially viable from an

operational perspective.

● Timelines prescribed for providing

connectivity to the Public Charging

Station (PCS) for faster rollout of

public charging of EVs.

● Technical requirements for public

charging stations have been

elaborated.

With the lack of adequate

charging infrastructure seen as a

key impediment for accelerating the

adoption of EVs in India, the union

government is making a 360-degree

approach to enhance public charging

infrastructure by involving private

and public agencies.

In this regard, MoP plans to have

charging stations in an area of a

3×3 km grid. Currently, India has a

total of 1640 operational public EV

chargers. Out of which, 9 big cities

namely: Surat, Pune, Ahmedabad,

Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi,

Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai

account for approximately 940

stations.

Interestingly, the government

has increased its focus initially

on these 9 megacities (with a

population of over 4 million).

Efforts are in place, through


13

various implementing agencies, to

speed up the deployment of public

EV charging infrastructure. There

has been the additional installation

of 678 public EV charging stations

between October 2021 to January

2022 in these 9 cities, which

is about 2.5 times the earlier

numbers.

These developments have

exhibited greater confidence among

the consumers to shift towards

e-mobility. After the saturation of EV

infrastructure in these megacities,

the government also has plans to

expand the coverage to other cities

in a phased manner.

In addition, the Department

of Heavy Industry has recently

sanctioned 1,576 public charging

stations for 25 highways and

expressways, which shall be located

every 25 km on both sides of these

routes.

Oil marketing companies have

also announced the setting up of


Source: Ashok Thakur, ETN

22,000 charging stations in prominent

cities and on national highways

across the country. Of these,

10,000 will be installed by IOCL,

7,000 stations by Bharat Petroleum

Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), and 5,000

by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation

Ltd. (HPCL).

Okinawa ramps up manufacturing capacity

E-2W manufacturer Okinawa

Autotech has ramped up its

manufacturing capacity by

commencing operations at its

second manufacturing unit located

in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. With this

facility as a hub of modernization

and technology with top-notch

infrastructure and machinery, the

company claims to have geared up

for the next level of innovation in

e-2W manufacturing.

"This development, amongst our

other initiatives, is a testament to our

unrelenting commitment towards

our vision of 'Made in India, Made

for India'. The market is evolving

at a fast pace, and the ramped-up

Okinawa's second manufacturing unit located in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan

Source: Okinawa Autotech

capacity will undoubtedly aid us

in bolstering the mass transition

to e-mobility with a diverse and

innovative product portfolio," said

Jeetender Sharma, MD & Founder

- Okinawa Autotech.

Okinawa will be manufacturing

close to 3 lakh EVs per year at the

new plant, which will eventually be

increased to a capacity of 1 million in

the next 2-3 years, according to the

company. It will be investing close

to `250 crore in the development of

its new facilities and will be making

further gradual strategic investments

to scale up the production.

The company's previous plant,

located in Alwar, Rajasthan has an

annual capacity of 1,80,000 units. In

order to meet the growing demand for

its e-scooters, Okinawa has a wellknit

dealership network with over 400

centers catering to the metro as well

as tier 2, tier 3, and rural markets in

the country. Recently, the company

has also introduced two 'Okinawa

Galaxy’ stores, the state-of-the-art

experience centers in Dehradun and

Jaipur.

Jan–Mar 2022


14

Mahindra Electric, CSC to promote rural EV

adoption

Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd

(MEML) has announced that it has

partnered with Common Service

Centres (CSC), a government

organization that helps employ

in rural India, to encourage the

adoption of electric vehicles.

Through this alliance with, MEML

will offer its range of EVs like the

Treo and Alfa to aspiring customers

in the rural markets, the company

informed. MEML CEO Suman Mishra

said: ''Such tie-ups can provide

gainful employment opportunities for

the educated youth in India to earn a

proud livelihood.''

The earning ability with Mahindra

e-3Ws is quite high while the

maintenance is the lowest when

compared to conventional fuel

vehicles and the benefit to the

environment is significant, she

added. ''This tie-up will help us

to penetrate rural markets and

propagate the use of electric

vehicles, thereby helping India

achieve its EV mission quicker.''

CSC engages Village Level

Entrepreneurs (VLEs) to enable a

smoother operation and they form the

connection between customers and

original equipment manufacturers

Mahindra’s Alfa e-3W

Source: Mahindra Electric Mobility

(OEMs). VLEs spread awareness

of the government initiatives in

villages.

Ashok Leyland to set up EV manufacturing

plant

Ashok Leyland has announced that it

plans to set up a new manufacturing

facility in the country to roll out

EVs. The Chennai-based company

has also lined up a `500 crore

investment to develop powertrains

based on alternative fuels like

CNG, hydrogen, and electric for its

commercial vehicles range

The company has already

announced a $200 million

(~ `1,500 crore) investment through

its UK-based arm Switch Mobility

for e-mobility.

Commercial EV ‘Bada Dost’

Source: Ashok Leyland

The commercial vehicle company

plans to expand its EV portfolio

as well as develop new engines,

keeping in mind the changing market

requirements in the domestic as

well as international markets.

"In Spain, we are coming up

with a manufacturing facility and

R&D centre and there are plans to

grow this over the next few years.

In India, we will be optimizing the

facilities that are available with

Ashok Leyland. But I'm sure very

soon we will require an independent

facility as well. And that

is something that is

being looked at by the

management team,"

Ashok Leyland Executive

Chairman Dheeraj Hinduja

said.

"We are looking at all the

opportunities and options

available, so that capacity

never becomes an issue if

the market requires more

products. So, I wouldn't

put a date to it right now.

But we are keeping all our

alternatives and options open."

On the company's EV product

plans, he said Dost and Bada Dost

models would be utilized to cater

to the domestic and the SAARC

markets. "We are also looking at the

production of a brand-new LCV (light

commercial vehicle) range from

the perspective of Switch, which

will be for the European, UK and

the US markets," Mr. Hinduja said.

The company has electrified Dost

and Bada Dost, and prototypes are

currently running. "We are looking

at Q4 of 2022 to be able to start

production of our electric LCV from

Switch's perspective."

Ashok Leyland is investing

around `500-700 crore for products

for the domestic market, while

Switch plans to spend close to $200

million in the next two-three years

for the development of their new

products. Over the next decade,

alternative powertrains comprising

battery electric and fuel cell electric

will emerge, and Ashok Leyland has

dedicated teams focusing on the

development of these segments.


Hero MotoCorp, Bharat Petroleum to set up

EV charging across India

15

Hero MotoCorp two-wheeler

manufacturer based in India, and

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd

(BPCL), a Public Sector Undertaking

(PSU) have joined hands to set

up EV charging infrastructure for

e-2Ws across the country.

"Sustainability has been a key

pillar of growth within the Hero

MotoCorp global ecosystem. Now,

with our Vision 'Be the Future

of Mobility' we are aggressively

advancing our initiatives towards the

technologies and solutions that will

empower all individuals, societies,

and industries to contribute towards

the planet's environmental targets,"

said Pawan Munjal, Chairman &

CEO - Hero MotoCorp.

The two entities are expected

to first establish large-scale EV

charging infrastructure at the existing

nationwide energy station network,

and may subsequently broaden their

partnership to develop cooperation

within the EV ecosystem and

adjacent business verticals.

In the first phase, charging stations

will be set up across nine cities

starting with Delhi and Bengaluru.

The network will be then expanded

across the country with the aim to

establish a high density of charging

stations. Each charging station will

feature multiple charging points

including DC and AC chargers and

will be available for use to all e-2Ws.

The entire user charging experience

will be controlled by a Hero MotoCorp

Mobile-App and will be a cashless

transaction mode.

"India's personal mobility is

primarily driven by two-wheelers that

form the largest part of our valued

customer base and the two-wheeler

segment has been the early adopter

of EVs," commented Arun Kumar

Singh, Chairman & MD - BPCL.

BPCL service station

Source: BPCL

As a part of the collaboration BPCL

will be converting 7,000 conventional

retail outlets into 'Energy Stations'

providing multiple fueling options,

including EV charging facility in the

medium to long term.

Bajaj Auto invests `300 crore towards EV

manufacturing

Bajaj Auto, Indian two-wheeler

and three-wheeler manufacturer,

announced an investment of

`300 crore (USD 40 million) for a

brand-new unit at its Akurdi plant

in Pune for manufacturing EVs.

Akurdi is the same place and site

Bajaj Chetak Red 02L

where the original Chetak scooter

factory, that made Bajaj Auto a

household name in India, was

manufactured. The company plans

to produce 500,000 EVs per annum

through this facility and the first

vehicle from this unit is expected to

be rolled out by

June 2022.

"In 2001 Bajaj

2.0 took off

on the roaring

Pulsar, in 2021

Bajaj 3.0 arrives

on the charming

Chetak. Going

forward, for the

Bajaj portfolio,

except for

implementing

one state-of-theart

ICE platform

that is currently

under development, all our R&D

drive train resources are now laserfocused

on creating EV solutions for

the future," informed Rajiv Bajaj, MD

- Bajaj Auto Ltd.

"This alignment reflects our

belief that light electric vehicles for

sustainable urban mobility is an idea

whose time may finally have come."

In addition to the `300 crore

investments made by Bajaj Auto,

a number of other vendors are

expected to further invest to the tune

of `250 crore ($33 million).

Bajaj shared that the new unit is

spread over half a million sq. feet and

will employ about 800 people. The

plant will have advanced robotic and

automated manufacturing systems

for all operations including logistics

and material handling, fabrication

and painting, assembly, and quality

assurance.

Jan–Mar 2022


16 INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Gogoro launches swappable solidstate

EV battery prototype

Energy

Storage

Gogoro Inc. has

announced the

world's first solidstate

lithium ceramic

battery prototype for two-wheel

battery swapping. Jointly developed

by Gogoro and ProLogium

Technology, the new Gogoro solidstate

battery prototype integrates

with Gogoro's existing vehicles and

swapping network.

"We must take advantage of

the latest battery innovations to

introduce a new era of electric

transportation growth and adoption

in our cities," said Horace Luke,

Founder, Chairman & CEO of

Gogoro.

"We partnered with ProLogium

Technology, a global leader in

solid-state battery innovation, to

jointly develop this new battery that

delivers higher energy density for

better range, improved stability and

safety, and is reverse compatible

with all existing Gogoro-powered

vehicles."

As the next generation of battery

chemistry, solid-state lithium ceramic

batteries are expected to replace

traditional lithium-ion batteries and

become the mainstream power

source for EVs and consumer

electronics. Solid-state batteries

provide higher energy density and

deliver a greater range for electric

vehicles. Gogoro estimates that its

solid-state batteries will increase the

capacity of current lithium batteries

by 140 percent or greater, from 1.7

kWh to 2.5 kWh.

"As leading global battery

innovators, Gogoro and ProLogium

have partnered to jointly design

solid-state battery prototypes that

integrate with Gogoro's battery

Source: Gogoro Inc

swapping network and two-wheel

vehicles," said Vincent Yang,

Founder & CEO of ProLogium

Technology.

"Solid-state battery technologies

present a new phase in the future

of EVs, and we look forward to

advancing this Gogoro prototype

battery into a commercial offering in

the future."

Redwood Materials partners with Ford, Volvo

for EV battery recycling

Founded by former Tesla CTO

JB Straubel, Redwood Materials

has announced that it is launching

an EV battery recycling program

in California with Ford and Volvo

as initial partners, as pressure

mounts to obtain materials for

EVs.


The basic plan is that Redwood

Materials will work with dealers

and dismantlers in California to

recover end-of-life battery packs

in hybrid and EVs. Straubel said

the program will be free for those

turning in vehicle batteries. The cost

of retrieving, properly packaging,

and then transporting the batteries

back to Redwood's recycling facility

in northern Nevada will be shared by

the startup along with partners Volvo

and Ford. Redwood will accept all

lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride

batteries in the State, regardless of

the make or model of the vehicle.

"It is messy right now and there's

not a great, you know, obvious, clear

solution to people," Straubel said.

“That is a key part of what we want

to change and make it as easy as

humanly possible, for everyone in

the United States initially, and in the

world more broadly to very simply

recycle batteries and make sure

those materials are recovered in

very high percentage."

Redwood has launched a portal

that scrapyards and dealers can

use to organize the retrieval of the

batteries. The pilot program is still at

an early stage with some parts not

clearly defined.


Sunverge, ComEd tie up for FTM residential

BESS

17

Sunverge Energy has announced that

it has been selected by Commonwealth

Edison (ComEd) to provide a battery

energy storage solution to enhance

feeder-level system reliability and

resiliency and reduce the duration and

frequency of customer outages.

The front-of-the-meter residential

project provides ComEd with an

alternative to traditional distributionlevel

grid hardening solutions.

"ComEd has distinguished itself as

an innovator and is one of the most

reliable electricity delivery companies

in the nation, so we're honored to

partner with them on this initiative,"

said Martin Milani, CEO of Sunverge

Energy.

"The Sunverge platform is designed

to work with upstream and midstream

utility grid management systems,

which allows for the smooth integration

of feeder-tied energy storage systems

into core distribution grid planning and

operations."

Unlike typical residential battery

applications, this project focuses on

an innovative new approach: locating

the energy storage systems in front of

the residential meter and integrating

tightly with utility distribution SCADA.

This application will result in a new

technique where the systems are not

installed on the customer premises

and where traditional solutions are

not a good economic, technical, or

locational fit.

The front-of-the-meter application

will showcase the versatility of

the Sunverge platform's indirect

distribution grid management,

confirming its value capture from

Source: Sunverge Energy

consumer to grid operator. The

learnings and standards developed

from the project will be scaled for largescale

utility-owned front-of-the-meter

assets to enhance residential feeder

reliability and resiliency. The project is

expected to be completed in 2022.

Eurocell EMEA plans giga factory in Western Europe

Anglo-Korean battery company,

Eurocell EMEA has announced that it

plans to build its first European giga

factory in just 12 months —faster than

other giga factories.

This is possible, the company

states, because it has a proven

battery product ready for scaled-up

manufacturing. Eurocell EMEA is a joint

venture between FIC EMEA and three

Korean battery technology companies:

Eurocell, FIC Advanced Materials, and

Indong Advanced Materials.

With an early £600 million ($813

million) investment planned over two

phases, it aims to supply European

Artist impression of the giga factory

Source: Eurocell EMEA

energy storage, automotive, and

e-mobility applications. Full capacity

will be reached as early as 2025.

The company states it will massproduce

and export its batteries from

one of three key markets: the UK, the

Netherlands, or Spain. It is already

aggressively looking at sites and the

final choice is heavily reliant on gaining

the right level of central government

support and investment.

Eurocell says that its batteries,

developed in Korea, last ten times

longer than conventional lithiumion

cells. A wide range of operating

temperatures also makes the Eurocell

cells suited to areas with extreme

weather and without an existing grid

network.

The Eurocell batteries blend

NCM cathodes with graphite/silicon

composite anodes in a prismatic form

factor.

Recardo Bruins, CEO Eurocell

EMEA stated: "Eurocell in the UK

is a new company, led by a highly

experienced UK team and backed

by our South Korean partner

with decades of experience in

electrochemistry, making batteries

at mass-scale and building the giga

factories to produce them. Now we

are planning to rapidly expand in

Europe, supplying the energy storage

and automotive industries with our

market-leading technologies that last

longer, perform better, and are 100

percent safe. These products can be

on the market in months, not years."

"To fulfill our mission, we are

actively seeking a European

manufacturing base and are in

advanced discussions with sites in

the UK, Netherlands, and Spain. With

the right level of central engagement

and support, we are keen to take

advantage of the rapidly growing

European market as quickly as

possible," Mr. Bruins further added.

Eurocell aims to construct its new

giga factory in two phases. The first

phase will begin producing advanced

battery cells at scale by early 2023

for existing customers. In parallel, a

bespoke facility will be constructed on

the same site, capable of producing

more than 40 million cells per year

by 2025.

Jan–Mar 2022


18

Britishvolt raises £40 million from Glencore for

setting up giga factory in Northumberland

Battery startup Britishvolt has

announced that it has raised £40

million funding from mining giant

Glencore as it drives ahead with

plans to build a major giga factory in

Northumberland.

The funding from Glencore comes

as part of a £200 million fundraise

for Britishvolt, open to new and

existing investors, which will be used

to fuel the development of its battery

manufacturing facility.

Glencore's new backing of the

company comes at a considerably

higher valuation than its earlier

commitment to Britishvolt, which

valued it at more than $1 billion, the

firm stated.

Glencore has also earlier pledged

to supply the company's planned

giga factory in the Northeast with

cobalt for use in the development of

batteries.

The latest funding round comes

after Britishvolt raised £1.7 billion

from warehouse provider Tritax

and investment firm Abrdn to

channel into the construction of its

Northumberland factory.

The government has also thrown

its weight behind the company with

a grant of £100 million from the

Britishvolt factory, Northumberland

Source: Britishvolt

Automotive Transformation Fund,

which it is drawing on to convince

battery manufacturers into setting up

a base in the UK.

US DOE to bolster supply chain for advanced batteries

The U.S. Department of Energy

(DOE) has announced that it

has issued two notices of intent

to provide $2.91 billion to boost

production of the advanced batteries

that are critical to rapidly growing

clean energy industries of the future,

including EVs and energy storage,

as directed by the Bipartisan

Infrastructure Law.

The Department proposes to

fund battery materials refining and

production plants, battery cell and

pack manufacturing facilities, and

recycling facilities that create goodpaying

clean energy jobs. The

funding is expected to be made

available in the coming months and

will ensure that the United States

can produce batteries, as well as

the materials that go into them, to

increase economic competitiveness,

energy independence, and national

security.


In June 2021, DOE published

a 100-day review of the largecapacity

battery supply chain,

according to Executive Order 14017,

America's Supply Chains. The

review recommended establishing

domestic production and processing

capabilities for critical materials to

support a fully domestic end-toend

battery supply chain. President

Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure

Law allocates nearly $7 billion to

strengthen the U.S. battery supply

chain, which includes producing

and recycling critical minerals

without new extraction or mining,

and sourcing materials for domestic

manufacturing.

"As electric cars and trucks

continue to grow in popularity within

the U.S. and around the world, we

must seize the chance to make

advanced batteries — the heart of

this growing industry — right here

at home," said U.S. Secretary of

Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

"With funding from Bipartisan

Infrastructure Law, we're making

it possible to establish a thriving

battery supply chain in the U.S."

With the global lithium-ion battery

market expected to grow rapidly over

the next decade, DOE is making it

possible for the U.S. to be prepared

for market demand. Responsible

and sustainable domestic sourcing

of the critical materials used to make

Li-ion batteries — such as lithium,

cobalt, nickel, and graphite — will

help close the gap in supply chain

disruptions and accelerate battery

production in America.

Funding from the Bipartisan

Infrastructure Law will allow DOE

to support the creation of new,

retrofitted, and expanded domestic

facilities for battery recycling and

the production of battery materials,

cell components, and battery

manufacturing.

The funding will also support

research, development, and

demonstration of second-life

applications for batteries once

used to power EVs, as well as new

processes for recycling, reclaiming,

and adding materials back into the

battery supply chain.

Both forthcoming opportunities are

aligned with the National Blueprint for

Lithium Batteries, guidance released

last year by the Federal Consortium

for Advanced Batteries and led by

DOE alongside the Departments of

Defense, Commerce, and State. The

blueprint details a path to equitably

ensuring a domestic battery supply

and accelerating the development

of a robust and secure domestic

industrial base by 2030.


19

Powin inks supply agreement for BESS in US

& Taiwan

Powin LLC has announced that it

has signed framework agreements

with four developers to purchase

5,800 MWh of battery energy

storage systems to be allocated

across multiple projects in the

United States and Taiwan. The

energy storage systems will be

delivered in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

As a part of the framework

agreements, Powin will provide fully

integrated battery energy storage

systems including cells, battery

management, stacks, enclosures,

cabling, transformers, inverters,

and all software and controls

system. Most of these supply

agreements will utilize Powin's

Centipede platform produced in

North America.

Powin will be responsible

for commissioning the battery

energy storage systems and

for providing ongoing long-term

services including onsite O&M,

battery augmentation, and 20-year

extended warranties for all projects

included under these agreements.

Centipede BESS platform

Source: Powin LLC

Geoff Brown, CEO of Powin, said:

"We are pleased to reach these

landmark framework agreements

with a number of our customers.

With the significant strides that

Powin has made as a company

in the previous 12 months, these

agreements signify that we have

built a superior level of trust within

the energy storage industry. These

agreements are with some of the

industry's most well-respected

developers with healthy pipelines

of projects located near some of

the largest power hubs throughout

the American West and Northeast,

as well as Asia. The framework

agreements will ensure that our

customers will have Powin products

to build their projects."

To place an order for your copy and for more information write to: vishal.morab@ces-ltd.com

Jan–Mar 2022


20

Neste, Marathon Petroleum JV for

renewable fuels production in the US

Renewable

Energy

Neste Corporation

has announced

that it has

signed definitive

agreements for the establishment of

a 50/50 joint venture with US-based

Marathon Petroleum.

The joint venture will produce

renewable diesel following a

conversion project of Marathon's

refinery in Martinez, California (the

Martinez Renewable Fuels project).

The closing of the joint venture

is subject to customary closing

conditions and regulatory approvals,

including obtaining the necessary

permits, which depend upon

certification of a final Environmental

Impact Report.

Neste's total investment will

amount to approximately €0.9 billion

($1.0 billion), inclusive of half of

the total project development costs

projected through the completion of

the project. The project is expected

to increase Neste's renewable

products capacity by slightly over 1

million tons (365 million US gallons)

per annum. Production of renewable

diesel is expected to come online in

the second half of 2022. The facility

is planned to reach its full annual

nameplate capacity of 2.1 million

tons (730 million US gallons) by the

end of 2023.

"This is a very important step in

our renewables growth strategy

execution. The location of the facility

is in the middle of the growing

renewable fuel market in California.

Source: Marathon Petroleum

The partnership will further

strengthen our footprint in the U.S.,

as we will have a broad value chain

that covers feedstock sourcing to

renewables production and sales in

the U.S. We are thrilled to partner

with Marathon: we both share an

ambition in offering more highquality,

lower-emission renewable

products, thus helping customers to

achieve their sustainability goals,"

stated Peter Vanacker, President &

CEO – Neste.

"We have committed to helping

our customers decrease their

greenhouse gas emissions

by at least 20 million tons of

CO2 annually by 2030. This joint

venture will help us in exceeding

our commitment as it will bring a

substantial amount of renewable

diesel to our customers in the U.S.

Our ongoing Singapore expansion

project and this joint venture will

increase our total production

capacity of renewable products

to 5.5 million tons by the end of

2023 and we will be the only global

provider of renewable products

with a production footprint in North

America, Asia, and Europe.”

Through this joint venture, Neste

obtains a 50 percent interest in the

Martinez Renewable Fuels project.

The production output will be split

evenly between the joint venture

partners, and each partner will be

responsible to market the products

under its brand and responsibility.

The facility will be operated by

Marathon, which has long experience

as a leading refinery operator and in

executing major Capex projects in

the U.S.

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21

Enapter to launch EL 4.0 AEM electrolyser,

aims to simplify H2 production

H 2

The cleantech

Hydrogen company

Enapter has

announced that

it is launching the first standardized

electrolyzer suitable for mass

production. In doing so, it seeks to

boost the green hydrogen market by

mirroring the success seen with the

commodification, rapid uptake, and

cost reductions of standardized solar

modules. The AEM Electrolyser EL

4.0 is a one-size-fits-all solution for

green hydrogen production – and

the next step in replacing fossil

fuels.

The EL 4.0 is the fourth

generation AEM (anion exchange

membrane) Electrolyzer Enapter

has been developed since 2017

– and the new version is smaller,

lighter, and ISO 22734 certifiable.

Enapter's technology combines the

benefits of alkaline electrolyzers'

low-cost materials (steel instead

of titanium) with the flexibility and

compact size of PEM electrolyzers.

The standardized modules can be

stacked and combined for projects

of any size – to the megawatt scale,

where Enapter's AEM Multicore

comes into play based on identical

AEM stack technology.

With its new model, Enapter

wants to meet the strong demand

for easily installable and integrable

electrolysers. Customers have

already made more than 400 orders,

even before the market launch.

Enapter has over 100 integration

partners installing its green hydrogen

generators around the world, driving

decarbonization forward in sectors

ranging from energy through to

mobility, industry, and the built

environment. The EL 4.0's simple

plug-&-play integration significantly

shortens the installation time for

these integration partners.

"The next milestone on our

mission: Replacing fossil fuels with

green hydrogen", says Sebastian-

Justus Schmidt, Co-Founder & CEO

- Enapter.

"The EL 4.0 will become a

building block for system integrators,

letting them rapidly deploy hydrogen

production and enact the market

AEM Electrolyser EL 4.0

Source: Enapter

ramp-up the world needs. We are

sure that the future mass production

of these AEM Electrolyzers will

fundamentally change the production

of green hydrogen."

Series production of the new

electrolyzers is currently taking place

at Enapter's Pisa, Italy site. First

deliveries to integrators are planned

for the summer. Mass production

(> 10.000 AEM EL 4.0 modules

per month) is scheduled to begin

incrementally from 2023 onwards

at the Enapter Campus – which is

now under construction in Saerbeck,

Germany.

MAN Energy Solutions to invest in H-TEC SYSTEMS

for H2 production

MAN Energy Solutions has

announced that it will invest up

to €500 million in its subsidiary

H-TEC SYSTEMS to transform the

hydrogen specialist into a massproducer

of PEM electrolyzers as

quickly as possible.

Uwe Lauber, CEO - MAN

Energy Solutions stated: "We are

transforming H-TEC SYSTEMS into

Source: H-TEC Systems

one of the world's leading players in

the field of PEM electrolysis. Over

the next five to ten years, green

hydrogen will become one of the

most important primary energy

sources for the global economy as it

continues to decarbonize. With PEM

electrolysis, H-TEC SYSTEMS has

mastered one of the most important

processes for industrially scaled

hydrogen production from renewable

energy sources. The technology is

mature and has already been placed

on the market successfully. The next

step is, therefore, to scale and set up

highly automated serial production

– and we would like to make rapid

progress with this."

Gunnar Kilian, Chairman of the

Supervisory Board of MAN Energy

Solutions and Member of the Board

of Volkswagen AG, underlines that

the Volkswagen Group supports

these growth plans: "On the path

toward achieving climate neutrality,

hydrogen plays a key role for sectors

such as international shipping or

industrial processes in which direct

electrification is not possible. It is

therefore essential for our subsidiary

MAN Energy Solutions to continue

to strengthen its strategic position

in the future market for power-to-X

technology and synthetic fuels with

investment in hydrogen production.

Only by coordinating our efforts will

we achieve our shared objective of

climate neutrality."

Jan–Mar 2022


22

Sony, Honda join hands for

developing EVs

A second key aspect is collaboration. The dimension of the battery manufacturing

project from Sony mining Group through and to the finished product is a massive undertaking and very

E-mobility difficult for a Honda single organization Motor to tackle single-handedly. We should also focus on

leveraging our have strengths, announced like the electronics part of the battery system; strengthening

and fortifying MoU to our develop expertise in that particular area, would seem like a viable strategy

vehicles. to start The with. partners hope

electric

to launch the joint venture this year

and market Above their all, first we EV need model to in invest in our research efforts, so as to keep ahead in technology.

Honda Not will make in step the with cars, the world, but always one step ahead. Asians are known for

2025.

while their Sony intellectual will oversee developing capabilities, so why not put it in play. The field is open and still level,

entertainment, one that network, has the and winning other technology stays on top of things.

mobility services.

"We would The benchmarks like to contribute have to been set by the European Green Deal standards; levels

the evolution have been of mobility put in through place. our That is a fair amount of research and time saved for the rest

partnership of us. with We Honda, should which focus has on achieving these standards – on achieving a quality which

global

brings

experience

with it

and

reliability.

knowledge

in the automotive industry and has Sony Vision-S concept e-car

led the We industry should with also progressive bring back Source: to mind Sony the importance of shared mobility for a county

approaches,"

as populous

stated

as

Sony

India.

CEO

We should use this transition to de-congest our roads by implementing

a standard of public transport that is reliable, clean and effective. India has

Kenichiro Yoshida.

the possibilities," said Honda CEO new EV business that will generate

"We would like to combine Toshihiro Mibe.

recurring revenues from services,

a great opportunity lined up; let’s not miss the bus!

the technological assets of both In January, Sony said the including software and content

companies and ambitiously pursue company was planning to develop a updates.


Sept–Oct 2021 |

TM

Starter Motor Alternators Wiping Systems Motors Ignition Systems Filtration E-Mobility Solutions Aftermarket Auto Electricals Semisolid Lithium Battery

24

COVER STORY

Year of the Li-ion: Time to

scale up

You can hear it … almost distinctly now… the footfall of the battery era. It’s

here to stay one would like to believe, for a lot rests on it; the present and

most definitely the future. This year, the overwhelming response to the

PLI schemes has proved that India’s time to step up as a manufacturersupplier

of batteries and parts has begun. All efforts now should be

towards scaling up – the hard work, the investments, the ventures, and

most importantly the belief.

25

For the energy storage industry,

the air is euphoric. There is a lot

to be excited about: favourable

policies, inviting sops, encouraging

growth in EV sales, promising

productive alliances, etc. The

government push for battery cell

manufacturing in India on a larger

scale had begun a while ago, but the

proverbial ball started rolling with

the introduction of the PLI schemes

for ACC and electric vehicles.

This year’s budget furthered

the aspirations by announcing

allocations for the growth of RE,

grid integration, e-mobility and

charging, among other things. This

has brought to fore the important

role energy storage will play in the

immediate future.

The PLI schemes are intended

to promote local manufacturing of

battery cells and auto components

through suitable policies and

subsidies. Widely welcomed by

industry leaders, the schemes are

considered a concrete step towards

achieving self-reliance, with an

objective to achieve manufacturing

capacity of 50GWh of ACC and

5GWh of ‘niche’ ACC, with an

outlay of `18,000 crore; and to

enhance manufacturing capabilities

of Advanced Automotive Products

(ATT), with an outlay of `25,938

crore.

It is expected that the incentives

would encourage the industry

to promote fresh investments in

indigenous supply chains and help

secure localization for battery and

EV manufacturing in the country.

Having said that, there has also

been speculation that the high

qualification criteria might not

attract heavy endorsement of the

scheme.

“PLIs have certainly triggered the

industry to take a closer look at the

business opportunities in the space.

They will partially compensate for

the handicap that the participating

businesses will experience getting

into it. That said, I don’t think

PLIs change the fundamentals of

a business case. Companies will

invest into healthy business cases

with or without PLI. PLIs will – and

should – only influence the speed at

which those companies grow,” said

Stefan Louis, CEO – Nexcharge.

Justifying the participation qualifiers,

he added: “The high qualification

criteria are probably a smart safety

mechanism to ensure that the hardearned

tax payer’s money is spent

wisely and effectively.”

While last year many biggies

took a wait and watch stance, early

this year the government received

totally 10 bids with capacity of 130

GWh -- over twice the manufacturing

capacity to be awarded – under

the ‘National Programme on

Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC)

Battery Storage’. An overwhelming

response was also received for

the PLI scheme for the automobile

and auto components sector, with

almost 95 companies approved

“This is just the beginning of a journey. So far

India was importing cells and assembling battery

packs, now we are starting to make the dream

of ‘making in India’ a reality. At least, the next

two years will go in the hard work - to set up the

manufacturing facilities, optimize the processes,

secure the supply chain, develop skilled workforce.

etc. It will be a challenging and exciting time to

prove ‘we can do it’ in India.”

– Dr. Rahul Walawalkar

President,

IESA

“I strongly believe that PLI schemes for EV and

ACC have the potential to strengthen our strive for

making EV adoption a revolution.”

– Awadhesh Jha

Executive Director,

Fortum Charge & Drive India

“Technology and supply chains will further

mature, cost will come down, incentives are in

place, but what will control business growth most

of all is the consumer confidence and mindset,

and the speed at which the average consumer is

willing to take the bet on e-mobility and follow its

pioneering peers.”

– Stefan Louis

CEO

Nexcharge

from around 115 applications

received.

The dream, long conceived and

dedicatedly pursued by believers,

that India’s time to enter the

global market as a supplier has

begun its run towards realization.

Yes, the stage is set but a lot has

to be achieved yet: setting up

foundations of the giga factories,

starting construction, and possibly

go live with the pilot lines next year.

It is desired that by 2024 production

will start.

Dr. Rahul Walawalkar,

President – India Energy Storage

Alliance (IESA) feels that the next

couple years will be critical for India;

focus needs to be on technology

partnerships, skill development, and

capacity building to support giga

Jan–Mar 2022


26

Source: Battery manufacturing growth in India, as envisioned by IESA

factories as well as the complete

supply chain. To enable such endto-end

development of the sector,

IESA launched India Battery Supply

Chain Council in December 2021.

The Alliance has also set a roadmap

where India is expected to have

at least 25 GWh of manufacturing

capabilities by 2025, 70+ GWh by

2027, and cross 100 GWh by 2030.

Dr. Walawalkar is excited about

the prospects of the ACC battery

manufacturing PLI: “India has taken

the first step to realize our dream

of becoming a global hub for R&D

and manufacturing of advanced

energy storage technologies. It is

great to see that not just the four

ACC PLI winners, but additional 5+

groups are planning to go ahead

with investments in giga factories in

India in next 2-3 years.”

Research reports deduce that

India will need a minimum 10 GWh

of cells by 2022 and 50 GWh by

2025. This expectation means there

will be a rise in demand for EVs in

the coming years, and this is what

is eagerly anticipated. The general

response is that the government

mandates might be the missing link

between EVs and mass adoption.

In that aspect the subsidies

announced through PLI could well

give a boost to local manufacturing

and intensify domestic demand

across India.

Awadhesh Jha, Executive

Director - Fortum Charge & Drive

India, feels that the implementation

of PLI schemes will impart additional

acceleration to the government’s

increasing support for adoption

of EV. He said: “With the recent

geopolitical development taking

place in Europe, and renewed

enthusiasm towards adoption of

EV shown globally in general,

and in Europe in particular, in the

year 2021, and Indian consumers

showing leap of faith in adopting

EV (record sale of EV across

segment is testimony to the same),

I have no doubt to accept that the

year 2022 would be directional for

e-mobility.”

Does BaaS fit in?

This year the budget has taken

energy transition and climate action

as focal points in its low-carbon

strategy; one of the government’s

action plans is to push battery-asa-service

or BaaS, as an alternative

to setting up charging station in

urban areas.

Under the BaaS model, batteries

can be leased out or swapped,

bringing down the upfront cost of

an EV. Apart from reduced battery

price, battery swapping can also

help address charging time and

range issues. With swapping, there

will also be less stress on charging

infrastructure. This model promises

to bring great relief to the end

user, but is still in its early stages,

where standardization of batteries

will prove to be the main area of

concern.

Battery swapping has the

potential to revolutionize the

EV market going forward; at the

same time, there are immediate

challenges that hinder the concept.

●●

The 18 percent GST that will

be charged by swapping service

providers, against the incentivized

5 percent GST applied on

purchase of an EV. Moreover,

FAME-II incentives are not

offered to vehicles sold with BaaS

or swap station operators. The

India Energy Storage Alliance

(IESA), in its recommendations

to the government has asked

that a reduction in GST rates for

batteries for EVs to 5 percent

should be considered; this will

ensure smooth transition towards

EVs without disturbing the cost

factor.


27

● Manufacturers preferring to

produce proprietary battery and

charging systems, might

make it difficult to set up an

interoperable battery swap

infrastructure. As the swapping

one-size-fits-all model will require

standardization, without which

EV safety will a major concern.

Mr. Louis believes that BaaS is

a great solution for specific market

segments, and will therefore capture

part of the market. He points out:

“Standardization is important for

BaaS to be successful, but the

government needs to be careful

that the creation of such standards

should not hamper innovation or

benefit specific organizations.” He

is of the opinion that the government

should not focus on technical

details, and rely on the industry to

take charge of this.

Mr. Jha too agrees on BaaS

being a great concept, with its space

in the e-mobility sector. “Battery

swapping, in my view, is a very

promising solution for 3W and 2W

delivery segment. What is needed

is standardization of form factor and

chemistry, so that an operator who

is absorbing more than 50 percent

cost of the EV should have larger

use case to get desired return on

investment. I expect the Battery

Swapping Policy to bring that

clarity.”

About the driving factors for

growth in the EV charging services

business, he said: “What awaits

our sector in terms of business

is the implementation of new

policies in the segment, increased

investments, and the country’s

journey towards net-zero carbon

emissions by 2070. Another

important factor is the public and

private sector’s collaborative action.

Public charging infrastructure is

going to play an important role in

the next two years to give the EV

users the confidence of driving with

focus without any ‘range anxiety’.”

The most exciting offering of

the budget, perhaps, would be the

accordance of ‘infrastructure status’

to energy storage systems, including

grid scaling battery system, to

financially complement the clean

energy policy and projects. This

places energy storage in the prime

position, the benefits of which can

be translated to grid and storage,

RE integration, and

e-mobility.

So, with the

production advantages

in place, the foundation

of a value chain

beginning to take shape,

and global e-mobility

already in momentum,

India is poised at get-go.

Every year has brought

with it a pivotal moment,

we have seen launches,

spurts in demand, green

energy commitments

at global forums, key

policy decisions to fulfil

those commitments…

This year, it’s time to pull

back the sleeves and

get to the hard work. It

has become imperative

that the manufacturer,

the service provider, and

even the buyer come

together in support of the

green energy transition.

There needs to be a lot

of convincing, believing

and keeping the faith.

Nishtha Gupta-Vaghela

Consulting Editor

ETN

Jan–Mar 2022


28 LEADERSHIP SPEAK

Powering global energy transition

through storage

In today’s climate conscious world, battery storage comes up as a

key component in achieving the shift towards sustainability through

renewables. In a question-answer session, Achal Sondhi, VP Growth

– Fluence, APAC Region, discusses the company’s supporting role in

achieving this.

Tell us about

how Fluence was

established?

Energy storage, and in particular

battery storage, is a new technology.

Learning curves and experience

curves are reducing far quicker

today. Where the gas industry might

have taken about 30 to 50 years, the

solar industry would be less than 20

and wind industry will be 25 years. I

think, battery storage has taken just

10 years to become so commercially

viable.

Back in 2008, AES was successful

in deploying one of the first 1 MWh

storage batteries in the United

States. We continue to develop and

innovate how battery storage can

support and enable a larger share

of renewables on the grid. Besides

intermittency, there were many other

aspects that AES realized it can

research and support, thus enabling

more business cases in optimizing

the grid. Over time Siemens also

became very interested in this

space because of its important

role in changing the way we power

our world and Siemens is also on

that same mission. In 2018 both

companies saw complementary

teams and expertise come together

and service the world as the storage

technology provider. That is how

Fluence formed a 50-50 partnership

between Siemens and AES.

Siemens is historically a

technology provider in the gas and

wind turbine space, and saw this

as another product that they could

build out to service the world. AES

is traditionally an Independent

Power Producer (IPP) developer,

but having such several projects

themselves, they saw an avenue

to provide products and services to

enable other companies and utilities

to bring storage to the ground. AES

is a parent at arm’s length, with

Fluence as an independent company

governed by a Board, allowing us

to innovate and deliver products

around the world. Today, things have

changed and we have rapidly grown

in bringing on more investors and

also recently gone public. With that

our original parent still plays a major

role in the organization as owners,

but we have a lot more investors

now in the pool.

One thing to mention is since we

started in APAC back in the day, at

Fluence we were just one person in

the APAC region; today we are well

over 160 people

Fluence has over

34,000 MWh plus

energy storage assets

either deployed or

contracted or under

asset management.

This is across

150 plus projects

and 30 countries.

Certainly, this

provides tremendous

learning from each,

also learnings from

deployments that are

specific to regions.

Could you highlight a

few of these?

It has been a tremendous journey

in a short span of three years.

Delivering excellence is one of our

core features, which we achieve in

what we innovate, in what we do,

and how we cater to each market.

Achal Sondhi

Having a team that has been

deploying energy storage since

2008, pilots have happened many

years ago. At Fluence we started

deploying larger and larger projects,

well into the 100 MW scenarios. With

that come a lot of complexities and

that is where we believe Fluence

brings value. One is reliability and

delivering large projects that will be

safe, work well, be available and

most of all be maintained over a

period of 20 years as per our service

agreements. Having that kind of

experience under our belt helps us

be sure we can achieve that level of

excellence.

There are examples of what

people might think are trivial, but

with our experience it is just these

that bring us a step ahead at times.

During a deployment in a particular

country, the system did not have

an AGC or automatic generation

control system up and running and

planned for it in the next year or two.

AGC is for frequency regulation or

control that is done by the central


29

utility, which commands a plant to

dispatch automatically when there is

a certain amount of power required.

Normally this is a frequency control

mechanism.

Instead of running the plant on

a droop curve function at the site

sub-station, they wanted to run it

more centrally so they could enable

the AGC. Our team that has been

doing this around the world figured

out a way the central utility could

send a signal through the SCADA

(supervisory control and data

acquisition) network to the system

to go in to a power dispatch mode

along the loop curve, and once you

change the state command it will

return to a state of charge mode

to bring the system back to its

optimal level of charge. That was

one application that we were able

to do quickly, having done it in many

countries - cheaply for the customer

and cheaply for the utility, and work

with the utility on what they wanted.

So, that is us being innovative but

delivering with experience.

The other side of the question is

when it comes to all the technicalities

around deploying and connecting

an asset to the grid, making sure

the foundations are good as well as

adequate. How do you carry out the

commissioning process when the

utility has never been commissioned

before or maybe that sub-station or

that part of the network has never

done the commissioning of a battery

before? Having an experienced

player on the other side to guide

the norms, the testing protocols

as well as the amount of testing

required, really helps. The last thing

a customer wants to pay for is seven

months of commissioning or testing

versus two weeks. This can happen

if the utility is unsure what exactly

they want or don’t have a path to

follow.

Experience is definitely crucial in

terms of ensuring the job is done

and delivered on time. Most of all,

because we are a committed storage

company, our entire organization

is behind finding ways to optimize

deployment and in problem solving.

Also, we are not conflicted in

delivering one technology over

another, but will always find the most

optimal way to deliver a storage

project anywhere in the world.

Could you briefly

touch upon safety and

standards? Would you

also elaborate on the

requirement of skill

development in these

new regions where the

energy storage assets

are being deployed?

Safety is at our core and everyone

is mandated to go through safety

training inside the office or outside

- it is a part of our everyday living.

We have onsite asset training safety

but also in the office and we ensure

that everyone in the organization

is looking out for the potential near

misses and ensure that everything

we do is at the heart of safety.

When we look at new countries,

safety systems are often not in place

for storage systems. They make

carbon copies from base line or from

other countries. But safety standards

need to be adjusted for individual

countries and what is typical for

each – monsoon or typhoons, etc.

This is not always easy, there being

no set formula and some regions

may even claim there is no safety

requirement. In such cases we say

it is mandatory on our side to ensure

the safety of these systems. It is also

very important to set a standard for

the rest of the industry. We do know

a lot of countries that don’t have it,

and we would not like to work without

some sort of safety standards. Not

only is it not the right path for the

industry; it is just not something we

would accept.

Having said that, what is great

about the world today is everyone

understands the importance of

safety and is very responsible in this

regard. Customers do ask how they

should teach their team to operate a

certain asset and be part of the site

training. As part of our service and

system offering, we have modules to

train onsite staff as first responders

for when there is an issue. We also

train the first responders in the

community to give them an insight

of what the facility is, the concerns

around it, how one can stop the

facility if one needed to, what are

brake mechanisms in the facility

and what are the different warning

signs in the unlikely event there is

a situation to handle. It is important

for the concept of safety to cascade

across anyone we work with, the

industry and hopefully the globe at

one point.

Financing such

projects is not very

streamlined today.

What could you tell

us about financing

storage and the

different models you

have experienced

around the world?

Asia is the next region for the

evolution of the storage industry. In

the UK and USA, the markets are

definitely thriving as also Australia.

One sees projects being put on the

ground and then acquiring financing.

I think the next set of countries will

also start seeing similar financing

and it comes with two sides of any

project. It involves the offtake and

its reliability as a first. The other side

is the technology and its reliability

aspect: are the LBs bankable, are

the commercials in place? Many

people on entering the financing

world start calculating at what

rate they can finance the project,

and at what rate they can get

insurance.

There are a few of the tier

one companies that come on top

after due diligence is done, after

checking the LBs behind it and who

is supporting that LB. I think those

aspects are now actually tilting

people’s decision on who they work

with. As these projects are high

Capex, and financing is becoming

more of an interest, people are

viewing how many people have

actually set up 1000 MW in the world,

delivered them, managed to ensure

that the entire system is operational;

and whether the company can stand

by the commitment it made for an

extended period of time? That is

becoming an increasingly prevalent

question, especially in the UK, USA

and Australia and now in some parts

of Asia as well. That is going to be

the next step in the evolution - the

project finance tanks and insurance

Jan–Mar 2022


30

companies will be able to provide

more products to support this

industry.

Fluence has a variety

of customers from

utilities, network

companies, IPPs,

even the commercial

industrial segment.

What are some of the

key drivers of business

growth in your view?

I think the experience curve of

a new technology or product is

speeding up around the world.

So more and more people now

understand how storage brings

value to the grid, to a project,

to a distribution network, which

is translating to business cases

becoming much more favourable

over time. A few years ago, battery

storage replacing peaker-plants was

one of the more prevalent business

cases - why would one need to build

another peaker in America when one

could instead build a battery that

would support the peaking capacity

when required. Then you had a

combination of solar plus storage,

which would almost take up some

of your mid-merit plants that still

continue to benefit with peakers.

Now, we are seeing business

cases around transmission

applications. We are seeing

storage-as-transmission really

picking up. Around the region of

Lithuania where we did a project,

we have got enquiries for over a

gigawatt that are related to storage

as a transmission asset. These are

serious projects and people are

evaluating between either differing

a high Capex investment, which is

a large transmission line upgrade,

which will be underutilized for the

next 15 years – or opting for the

storage plant instead. The business

case - because of where prices are

today and probably even were two

years ago – is making sense to

have storage as a way of deferring

a high Capex investment that will be

underutilized. That was the same

premise apparent in the peaker

concept: if you were making a high

Capex asset deliver only a few times

a year, be it gas or coal that was

running at less than 80 percent a

year, then you are underutilizing the

spend on that asset. That is where

storage really starts playing a major

role to bring value.

So, we are seeing storage

business cases becoming more and

more prevalent, be it in SE Asia or

be it in India. The Australia market

is booming in all these applications.

The question then becomes, where is

the commercial structure to support

it or the payment mechanism? That

I think is a top-down decision that

needs to happen, which will help or

enable people to think through the

commercial payment structure. But

the business case exists and the

fundamentals are there to drive such

an application.

Coming to India: at

Cop 26 we committed

to achieving 50

percent of our

energy requirement

from renewables

by 2030. India has

come out with the

first gigawatt-hour

tender by SECI. What

are your thoughts on

the energy storage

potential in India

and the unique

opportunities and

challenges faced here?

India is a strategic market for us

at Fluence. We have a 10 MWh

system in Delhi which was one of

the first systems deployed. It not

only enables us to have a bit of

experience in actually connecting

a system to the grid, but also in

running a system for two years with

all the climate nuances in India. We

are committed to the Indian market,

and with this tender that has just

come out we believe it’s just the tip

of the ice berg.

Frankly, there are many

fundamental markets out there for

which the need for storage is just

a given. Most of these markets

have high renewable penetration of

plants, high renewable penetration

of mid-merit coal, lack of local

gas supply - that is like the right

ingredients for storage. You need the

flexibility to support the renewables;

your gas supplier or gas projects

are limited, so it creates flexibility

and enables the energy transition.

Here, storage is actually one of the

faster mechanisms. It is integral

to achieving that target; we really

believe that storage should itself be

a target to enable that. So, if you

have an energy storage target that

supports the renewable target, then

you are further enabling the potential

of this renewable target being

executed. Given how the network

is set up, how we have a lot of midmerit

coal enabling this transition -

storage will take it to the final step

and make sure that we get there.

Potentially, the fundamentals

driving storage in India are very

high. The commercials that enable

payment for such a system need

to be worked out a bit more. To do

that one needs all stakeholders to

work together. The quickest way

to bring all stakeholders together

is to set a target: saying we need

200 GWh of storage by 2030 to

support renewables is actually telling

everyone in the system, ‘Find a way

to make these payments work, find a

way to make these business cases

work.’ If not, people may say they

want to wait for something cheaper,

longer duration instead of finding a

way to make this work. This is what

other countries have done. Once they

said they needed storage, they found

what changes in rules were needed

to enable a payment mechanism

for a short duration system between

the hours of 6 to 10 pm or 4 to 8 or

even one hour duration. Any sort of

payment mechanism to help optimize

the grid for those gaps, because you

have a lot of renewables, you have

coal that is reaching its technical

limitation and you have a gap to fill,

otherwise you are wasting a lot of

energy. That would require some

regulations and policy changes. It

is just a matter of thinking how to

procure these assets instead of

procuring more expensive assets that

are underutilized. Bringing everyone

together with a target is probably

one of the first steps that will help do

that. Here the MoP tender is in the

right direction and an excellent step;

a lot more steps to be taken, but the

direction is right.


31

What role can an

alliance like India

Energy Storage

Alliance (IESA) play in

this segment?

IESA has been around for several

years and has been instrumental in

bringing the necessary awareness

regarding this critical sector. Fluence

being part of IESA has seen vital

information exchange benefits,

getting the right information from the

stakeholders and sharing it. Its role

is to bring together the momentum

that is now apparent in the country.

All the stakeholders together have

a mission to do something to make

this a cleaner future. How do we

bring this together and make it

executable? That is where IESA’s

role comes in – to bring together all

the stakeholders including industry,

government, individuals, advisors

and say what do we need to do to

enable this mechanism; what are

the top five things we need to do to

reach our goals.

IESA can very effectively share

what is happening in the market,

what ideas are out there, what

information. But they also have

a right to show what is going to

happen if we don’t do the right thing

in deploying more storage so we can

have more renewable generation. It

should be putting together views of

the world or of India and show how

overall the cost comes down, if we

actually do deploy the storage that

we want, the renewables we want.

Maybe some coal plants have to

retire earlier than expected and incur

losses. But, overall the system, the

rate payer, the Indian consumer, and

the air we breathe will be better. By

putting forward that view then serves

as an indication that it is a top-down

support-mechanism that is required

to enable it. That is where IESA’s

role lies. Being part of the leadership

circle, we are in full support, but

of course this is where IESA can

bring a lot to the table because it

is an independent organization and

can bring in an independent and

balanced view as well as a factual

outlook to all stakeholders.

Fluence does not

manufacture batteries,

could you explain?

We are not vertically integrated

into battery manufacturing for the

one reason that we want to remain

agnostic to battery supply in the

event that some combination of

chemistry can change the scenario

of the storage world quite a bit.

Today, we might have a system that

is prevalently NMC, tomorrow we

might have a system that is LFP and

then there may be one that comes in

ten years. So, we want our systems

to be flexible to change to the type

of technologies of the future. If you

have a system that is there for 20

years to support the grid and we

need to augment the power in 10

years, enabling it to be augmented it

with something different, it should be

an option in case the prices show it

as desirable.

The second thing is having a

flexible supply chain with regard

to the different chemistries: what

is the actual application needed –

high density, high power or longer

duration. That is another reason we

have this kind of flexibility which is

why we have not vertically integrated.

Could you elaborate on

the existing partners

or new ones you

intend to forge moving

forward?

In terms of our supply

partnerships, we have three or four

strategic partnerships for supply

chain in the world, which also gives

us a lot of benefit because we are

able to supply not necessarily

on pricing, but have the ability to

maintain supply, despite shortage.

A large contract also means we

have good established processes

with these suppliers. So, any sort of

warranty, changes, augmentation,

any support to the system – because

we are such large partners - we are

able to enable that process faster,

we can handle that situation for our

customers easily. This is a big plus

and brings a lot to the table. We get

treated as a priority because of our

bulk relationship. Having a large

supply chain like that around the

world, definitely allows us to support

different customers and utilities in

different countries to bring storage

to the ground.

(The interview was conducted

by Netra Walawalkar, for ETR. The

conversation was transcribed and

edited by Kathy Priyo for ETN.)

SAVE THE DATE

Jan–Mar 2022


32

ENERGY STORAGE

Preparing for significant expansion of

storage in the Indian grid

There has been a strong policy push to significantly scale up the solar

and wind capacity in the Indian grid by 2030 and beyond. Srihari

Dukkipati, Research Fellow at Prayas (Energy Group) takes a look

at the challenges of reliably meeting demand, and the complementary

role that storage can play.

With solar and wind generation

costs falling below those of

new coal-based generation,

and given that solar and wind are

more environmentally benign than

coal, the Indian government is

putting its might behind scaling up

the renewables mix in the Indian grid.

While this bodes well for meeting

our green energy targets, it also

brings up the challenge of meeting

demand reliably, since solar and

wind generation may not coincide

with demand.

These challenges can be

addressed through:

● flexible operation of coal

generation fleet as needed,

● using peaking generation such

as hydro and gas during high net

load periods,

● shifting load to periods with high

solar and wind generation, e.g.,

meeting farm pumping demand

using distributed solar plants

connected to agricultural feeders,

● better price signals through timeof-day

pricing to reflect system

cost,

Srihari Dukkipati

GWh

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Storage mix (FY 31) according to the PIER model

2021 2031 2031 2031

● use of storage to shift generation

from low net load periods to high

net load periods, and

● using larger balancing areas for

system operation.

With battery storage prices

expected to drop significantly in

the coming decade, focus has

been on the complementary role

that storage can play in a grid with

high penetration of renewables. At

Prayas (Energy Group), we recently

investigated the role of storage in the

Indian grid over the current decade,

up to 2030-31, as part of a couple of

modelling studies.

The first study is based on an

open energy systems model for

India named PIER (Perspectives on

Indian Energy based on Rumi), which

estimates spatially and temporally

disaggregated demand up to 2030-

31, and meets that demand through

optimization of various supply

choices including production and

import of primary fuels, addition

of electricity generation and

storage capacities and transfers

across different regions. Currently,

residential demand is estimated

bottom up based on energy service

Ref

-4hr Battery -6hr Battery Pumped Hydro

needs, by type of consumer

classified into urban and rural, and

by expenditure quintiles. (The model

results are described in detail in a

report titled ‘PIER: Modelling the

Indian energy system through the

2020s’, and input and output data

are available for free download and

use on GitHub.)

In the reference scenario, it is cost

effective to have about 420GW of

solar and wind capacity and 70GWh

of battery storage by FY31. If battery

storage prices drop faster than

assumed in the reference scenario,

more than 90GWh of battery storage

gets added. If battery storage

prices drop slower than assumed,

no battery storage gets added by

FY31. However, there is widespread

agreement among analysts that

prices will certainly drop; it is only a

matter of how soon.

The second study is based on a

State-level power sector production

cost simulation model for the State of

Maharashtra. This model, developed

using the open source and featurerich

GridPath platform, simulates unit

commitment and economic dispatch

for the region served by MSEDCL,


33

47

the proposition State distribution for buyers utility. was Dispatch very

happens limited due in to 15-minute higher upfront blocks, costs. and

operational But today, consumer constraints preference such as

ramp has largely rates, technical moved towards minimum, Li-ion start

costs powered and vehicles minimum owing up and to down their

times relative are advantages honoured in each in terms block. of

range, Demand power, and and RE charging generation cycle.

profiles Although are a as majority reported of by manufacturers

year continue 2017-18, to with use the lead-acid demand

SLDC in

the

profile batteries being that modified are cost-effective

to shift about

50 and percent can be of locally the non-monsoon procured,

night medium-to-high-speed

time agriculture load to and day

time premium in line two-wheelers with Maharashtra’s have already solar

agriculture transitioned feeder to Li-ion scheme. batteries. The

model Since market compares share system of such operation vehicles

in terms different of overall capacity e-2W sales mix

across

scenarios, is largely increasing provided exogenously since the last to

the two model, years, further ranging transition from 30 towards percent

to Li-ion 50 percent batteries of in the e-2W demand space being is

met expected through in RE 2022. sources Moreover, in FY30. In to

the qualify 30 percent for FAME-II RE scenario, subsidy, 3GW new

of models coal-based awaiting capacity market is launches added

to are meet likely demand to be high-powered reliably, whereas with

in Li-ion the batteries 50 percent to meet RE the scenarios, revised

28GWh standards of battery of minimum storage riding is added. range

of It 80 is km found and that top demand speed not can less be

met than reliably 40 kmph. and cost-effectively with

50 percent of the demand being met

through RE sources, Increased and with no

net coal-based capacity addition.

penetration of

Storage 09 plays an important role

in making this high-voltage

happen, and the

50 percent RE scenarios batteries result in

slightly As of lower today, total manufacturers

generation cost

(including prefer 36V or RE 48V and batteries storage for fixed their

costs) e-2W, compared as they are with cost-effective

the 30 percent

RE scenario.

and Installed safer Capacity to use. They and are Power perfectly

suited for low- and medium-

RPO30 itive RPO50S1 and scaled-up RPO50S2 manufacturing

RPO50S3

supplied are comparable, from storage thanks to competspeed

scooters and e-bikes that at present. However, higher upfront

make Coal-based reasonable Capacity balance (MW) between 24,832 cost 20,932 is a major 19,672 dampener, 17,137 as the

range and power. But higher-voltage

Wind batteries Capacity like (MW) 60V or 72V 12,940 batsitive

21,215 to pricing. 21,215 Thus, in 21,215 addition

two-wheeler market is highly senteries

make more sense for highperformance

Solar Capacity and (MW) premium models, 19,675 costs 28,640 are essential 28,640 for mass 28,640 adop-

to favourable TCO, lower upfront

as they can provide greater power tion of e-2W.

efficiency.

Storage (MUs)

Low-power dissipation

780

According

9991

to a

10049

report by Avendus

10370

of such batteries provides high reliability

and a super long service life, tion for mass adoption of e-2W is

Capital (ACPL), the point of inflec-

RE Curtailment (MUs) 799 2724 2604 2379

thereby increasing their penetration

in the market. With buyer pref-

battery prices falling to $160-170/

expected around FY 2023, with

erence There moving are advantages towards advanced to battery kWh. bulk procurement, As battery prices ancillary come services, down,

and storage premium beyond models, balancing new generation models any deferring reduction transmission in upfront investments, cost will

of at e-scooters a utility scale. with 60V The or modular higher kindle and reliability customer support interest. for critical Together loads.

batteries nature of are battery expected storage enter makes the it with Given additional this, is important sops and that incentives

different (like options successful are experimented

implementa-

these

market suitable in for 2022. providing balancing and

stability support at multiple levels tion with of through FAME-II) pilots from in governments,

a methodical

of the distribution and transmission achieving manner over cost the parity next is 5 possible. years to

network. Co-locating Price parity battery storage on figure out what works and does not.

10

There is no doubt that the upcoming

Utilities, years regulators, will be a litmus planners test to this and

with solar could par result with in petrol additional

savings in balance of system costs prediction system operators on e-2W can achieving play a crucial favorable

role in cost evaluating parity. these pilots. These

as With well skyrocketing as better utilization petrol costs of

and transmission revised prices lines. of Hence, new BS6 there twowheelers

is a strong since case mid-last for preparing year, elec-

for inputs for the subsequent expansion in

learnings will help provide useful

tric the scooters inevitable are increase being proposed in grid-level as scale, which appears to be inevitable.

the storage potent in the ‘antidote’ Indian electricity for the financial

It is pinch found faced from by the end PIER users. study [Srihari Dukkipati works on

grid.

Consumers that battery storage are increasingly starts becoming aware energy models and data at

that cost-effective the TCO for of the electric Indian scooters grid by Prayas (Energy Group), which is

and 2027-28, e-bikes so is significant less than their capacity petrol is an Indian research

Dhiyanesh

and analysis

counterparts likely to be added in the starting long-run. then. In There the organization

Ravichandran

working in the area

entry-level are multiple scooter potential and applications commuter of of energy

Correspondent

policy. It is part of a

bikes battery segment, storage, and their different buying possible costs non-government

ETN

charitable trust

procurement arrangements such as

called ‘Prayas’, in Pune.]

E: contact@indiaesa.info

Jan–Mar 2022 EMERGING TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Sept–Oct 2021 |

34

ENERGY STORAGE

Dual carbon batteries for high-voltage

applications

Dual carbon batteries (DCBs) are sustainable and low-cost compared to

Li-ion batteries (LIBs), and may find potential uses in various applications.

In this article, Dr. Surendra Kumar Martha, Associate Professor

(Department of Chemistry) – IIT Hyderabad, writes about the novel

5V DCB consisting of zero transition metal, developed by his team.


Energy economy based on

renewable sources has been

put forward as a way out to

shrug off the dependence on fossil

fuel. Rechargeable lithium-ion

batteries (LIBs) are projected to meet

future e-mobility, electric aviation,

and stationary grid energy storage

targets within 2030. However, LIBs

need toxic and costly metals like

cobalt, nickel, manganese, etc., for

functioning.

Geologically unsymmetrical

distribution of lithium and cobalt,

along with geopolitics and unethical

child labor centered on mining,

causes havoc fluctuations in raw

material cost. It affects the market

price stability of large LIB packs

used in EVs. In the dual-carbon

battery, both the electrodes consist

of graphitic carbonaceous materials,

and the ions from the electrolyte

intercalate and de-intercalate into

the electrode matrix.

The team at the Electrochemical

Dr. Surendra Martha

Energy Storage (EES) Lab at IIT

Hyderabad, has developed a 5V Dual

Carbon Battery utilizing self-standing

carbon fiber mats as both electrodes

(cathode and anode) using the

same non-aqueous LIB electrolyte.

DCBs set aside the requirement of

toxic, costly, and heavy transitional

metals mentioned above and are

completely recyclable.

The novel dual carbon battery

consisting of zero transition metal

is environmentally benign. It may

cut down the overall battery cost by

15-20 percent and is expected to

curb the unpredictability in market

price. Ubiquitous carbon as active

electrode material and current

collector replacing heavy metals

brings lightness and flexibility. The

fabricated 5.0 voltage (nominal


35

voltage 4.65 V) cell provides an

energy density of 100-watt hours

per kilogram approximately and

can be extended up to 150-watt

hours per kilogram with further

modifications. The current research

is demonstrated in a coin-type or

single electrode (2.5 cm x 2.5 cm)

pouch-type cell level.

Before generalizing the concept

of DCB and extrapolating it to other

rechargeable battery analogs,

it is essential to compare both

configurations in terms of voltage,

power density, energy density, cost,

safety, life span, the temperature

range of operation, and recyclability.

First, a larger interfacial area of

the carbon electrode enables high

areal energy and power densities

fabrication in this study. However,

the volumetric energy and power

densities are not up to the mark due

to large porosity and lower active

material to carbon ratio.

Second, the carbon electrodes

(e.g., graphitic carbon fibers) used

here are 2–3 times more expensive

than Al foils. Also, the homogeneous

distribution of active material

throughout the current carbon

fiber-based electrode fabricating

pouch/cylindrical cells to secure a

proper tabbing may be technically

challenging at the pilot scale.

Third, Al- and Cu-based current

collectors in LIBs interfere with the

metal extraction process by changing

the pH of the solution, affecting

the purity of recycled metals. But,

current collector used in DCB

fabrication in the form of carbon can

be easily recycled. It is expected that

the safety and performance of DCB

could be much higher, since carbon

electrodes using the petroleumpitch

binder are used instead of the

fluorinated polymer binders used in

conventional LIBs.

The current development is

small, and raw materials are not

abundant in the Indian market. The

team at IIT Hyderabad is working

to improve the cycle stability and

energy density limits further by

using high concentrated electrolytes

and different anions, with available

raw materials. Extensive research

is required to make commercial

prototypes. The team’s broad vision

includes introducing the dual carbon

system as a cheaper LIB alternative

to the Indian Market.

The IIT-H research team

believes that developed cells may

find potential uses in high voltage

applications, sophisticated batteryrun

medical devices, regenerative

braking systems in electric vehicles,

and stationary grids.

[The research was carried out

by Shuvajit Ghosh and Udita

Bhattacharjee, Ph.D. students

at IIT Hyderabad, under the

supervision of Dr. Surendra K.

Martha, in collaboration with Oak

Ridge National Laboratory (USA)

and Naval Materials Research

Laboratory (Mumbai, India).

Naval Research Board (DRDO)

supported this project.]

vishal.morab@ces-ltd.com

Jan–Mar 2022


36

ENERGY STORAGE

Battery swapping stations: Can they

improve grid flexibility?

The role of battery swapping in potentially bringing down EV ownership

costs is well-known. However, swapping stations could also act as an

essential source of grid flexibility, which will become crucial with increasing

share of renewable energy and EVs. Dhruv Warrior, Research Analyst

at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), elucidates

the various aspects of battery swapping and its relevance in the

coming years.

On February 1, 2022, the

Finance Minister of India

made several landmark

announcements related to the

energy transition, building on the

Prime Minister’s ‘Panchamrit’

or five-point agenda to tackle

climate change. Among these

announcements was a proposed

battery swapping policy that has

excited many in the industry.

Aligning policy and private sector

strategy on battery swapping is

vital. There is also a need for

updating legislations addressing

the various challenges inherent to

scaling up battery swapping.

What is battery

swapping?

Battery swapping is a form

of vehicle refuelling through a

detachable battery. When the

battery’s charge gets depleted, the

Dhruv Warrior

Figure 1: Total energy demand of Delhi (Dec '20 - Nov '21)

Load (MW)

8000

7000

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Time

Summer average High peak load summer day (30 June ’21)

Source: MERIT Portal

driver can go to a battery swapping

station and replace the battery

within minutes. Hence, the driver

doesn’t need to own the expensive

battery, but instead is provided the

battery-as-a-service (BaaS). The

success of this business model

could prove to be a significant

catalyst in the EV revolution since

it can bring down the EV ownership

cost.

Battery swapping for

grid flexibility

The argument for battery

swapping generally boils down to a

potential lowering of EV costs and

access to fast refuelling without

the need for fast chargers. But with

the increasing share of renewable

energy and EV’s, battery swapping

stations can also play a key role

in helping utilities balance their

grids.

To understand where battery

swapping could play a role, we

should first understand where the

trouble lies with current charging

methods when it comes to load

on the grid. We use the case

study of Delhi to explain the

problem. In Figure 1, we see the

characteristic dynamic demand of

the Delhi grid, with afternoon and

evening peaks. At these times,

the transmission and distribution

(T&D) infrastructure of the grid is

at its limit, and the utility is forced

to procure excess electricity from

the short-term electricity markets

at high cost. As the number of EVs

charging increases, it is likely to

increase the variability of this load.

Typically, EVs are charged at night

and in the case of Delhi their power

demand coincides with pre-existing

peak hours.


37

Managed charging

systems

Utilities can try to control their

EV charging load through passive

or active managed charging. When

managing charging passively,

utilities use incentives such as

variable time-of-day (ToD) tariffs

to nudge the charging behaviour.

In active managed charging,

utilities manage charging through

the direct control of chargers on

their network. Consumers would

see their charging slowed or

switched off as required by the

utility, in return for participation

incentives or cheaper EV charging

tariffs. Unfortunately, while

necessary, managed charging

systems have limits to their

effectiveness.

Active managed charging

requires installing smart charging

equipment. Such installations will

be challenging to implement at

scale for e-2W and e-3W drivers

who currently charge from standard

wall plug-points. Managed

charging programs may also

require active user involvement in

keeping track of time-of-day rates

and demand response events.

This active participation could be

challenging for less technicallysavvy

consumers.

Battery swapping could be

ideal to fill these gaps, particularly

in India where e-2W and e-3W

make up majority of the potential

EV customers. Battery swapping

providers have the potential to act

as aggregators, where the charging

load of a large number of e-2W

and e-3W can be managed. The

process of smart charging would

be considerably simpler for EV

drivers. Further, battery swapping

could increase the range of load

shifting available during managed

charging.

Flexibility with

battery swapping

Currently, the amount of

flexibility available during charging

depends on the schedule and

charger availability for an individual

consumer. Swapping stations

should be able to determine

flexibility for all the batteries being

charged. Such a business model

would be more straightforward

than aggregator models consisting

of multiple, non-co-located smart

chargers since a smart battery

station would need to consist of only

a single commercial connection to

the grid.

If battery swapping is expanded

to e-4W and e-buses, it could

reduce the load from fast chargers

while providing similar refuelling

speeds. Battery swapping stations

could reduce the charging load by

broadening the charging window of

these swapped batteries.

Through this mechanism, battery

swapping stations could provide

much-needed flexibility to utilities

while concurrently providing value

to EV consumers. The station

could also act as energy storage

on the grid and provide power back

to it. Gogoro Inc. and Taipower

installed the world’s first V2G

battery swapping station in Taiwan

in October 2021.

Mainstreaming gridintegrated

battery

swapping

Battery swapping as a

technology has been through false

starts. It will be vital for policymakers

and the private sector

to align on deployment of the

technology. When considering

the deployment of grid-integrated

battery swapping, a few challenges

need to be tackled.

Lack of data is the first roadblock.

Smart charging is a nascent

technology in India, while battery

swapping is still in the proof-ofconcept

stage. Further, globally,

it is only concentrated in specific

geographies, and access to smart

charging implementation data is

scarce.

The government should earmark

funding for grid-integrated pilots

as part of the battery swapping

policy. Such pilots will give utilities

and industry players more precise

data on the potential flexibility

afforded by battery swapping

stations, as well as the technical

and commercial constraints.

Secondly, for battery swapping

to provide grid flexibility, it must

be deployed at scale. A major

hindrance to such deployment

is the lack of standardization of

swappable battery technologies.

Each company has its own

proprietary technology and may be

unwilling to make modifications for

standardization. The government

must step in to mandate certain

basic standards for these

swappable batteries. Effective

standards will only be arrived

through a consultative process

that brings together all of the major

players in manufacturing (EV and

battery) and swapping station

operators.

Finally, battery swapping must

be affordable for consumers.

Here, the revenue from grid

services could add a much-needed

competitive advantage to the

battery swapping model in India.

Battery swapping companies can

pass on some of the value accrued

from cheaper tariffs and managed

charging incentives to customers

as part of their BaaS model.

Flexible electric grids

require adequate demand side

management and grid-connected

energy storage. Smart battery

swapping stations could provide

both of these services to the grid,

while providing value to EV drivers.

The flexibility could be provided

without compromising on the USPs

of battery swapping: fast refuelling

and affordable EVs.

To ensure the success of battery

swapping and increase grid

resilience, various stakeholders

like EV manufacturers, utilities and

the policy makers need to work

closely to develop a smart battery

swapping ecosystem.

[The Council on Energy,

Environment and Water

(CEEW) is an independent

not-for-profit globally engaged

policy research institution

that analyses and advises on

critical questions on energy,

environment and water.]

Jan–Mar 2022


38 CLEAN ENERGY

India’s energy transition: The way to

net-zero

About 140 countries covering 90 percent of global emissions; 410 publiclytraded

companies and 450 financial institutions representing $130 trillion

in assets have announced net-zero targets. Vibhuti Garg, Energy

Economist – Lead India, IEEFA, feels this year could well be called the

year of net zero, and writes about how the push for decarbonization will

require huge investment.

At COP26, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi ratcheted

up India’s clean energy

targets, pledging to cut emissions

to net zero by 2070; in addition

to increasing non-fossil capacity

to 500 GW, meeting 50 percent

of energy requirements from

renewable sources, reducing

emissions by 1 billion ton, and

reducing the emission intensity of

the economy by 45 percent from

2005 levels by 2030.

While Indian companies have

been slow to join the race to net

zero, they are starting to get their act

together: 14 have committed to netzero

targets, 29 have announced

science-based targets and 69 have

committed to taking climate action.

Some of India’s biggest

companies, such as Tata,

Reliance, Mahindra, ITC, Adani

and Dalmia Cement have made

net-zero announcements. Various

government corporations like Indian

Railways and Chhattisgarh Health

Department have also committed to

achieve net-zero carbon emissions

by 2030 and 2050 respectively.

Finance will play a key role in

helping countries achieve their netzero

targets. As per McKinsey’s

report, global capital spending on

physical assets for energy and landuse

systems in the net-zero transition

between 2021 and 2050 would

amount to about $275 trillion, or

$9.2 trillion per year on average – an

annual increase of as much as $3.5

trillion. Moreover, an extra $1 trillion,

in addition to today’s annual spend,

would need to be reallocated from

high-emission to low-emission assets.

The report also highlighted that

the exposed geographies, including

in sub-Saharan Africa and India,

would need to invest 1.5 times

more than advanced economies as

a share of GDP today to support

economic development, and build

low-carbon infrastructure. In a ‘Net

Zero 2050’ scenario, India’s capital

requirements would be 11 percent

of GDP, compared with the global

average of about 7.5 percent of GDP.

While a detailed sectoral study

on India’s net-zero emissions is yet

to be done, the IEA India Energy

Outlook 2021 presented various

scenarios, including the Sustainable

Development Scenario (SDS),

wherein India will witness an early

peak and rapid subsequent decline

in emissions, consistent with a

longer‐term drive to net zero. This

scenario illustrates the net-zero

roadmap for India, but the IEA has

shifted the global goal post from

2070 to 2050. This implies that

transition to renewable energy

and firming capacity will have to

accelerate relative to that mapped

out in the SDS scenario.

If we look at the short-term

target of 2030, the expected annual

investment for deployment of

renewable energy, battery storage,

electric vehicles, and network

expansion and modernization of the

grid is $110 billion in the SDS for

India. This means India would need

investment of $1.1 trillion between

2021-2030. This is about three times

the current annual investment ($40

billion) in these sectors. However,

to achieve the net-zero emissions

roadmap, the corresponding

investment requirement will be much

Reliance $80 billion Committed over 10-15 years; 100GW solar + giga

factories for modules, fuel cells and storage

Adani $50 billion Investment committed for renewables by 2030

Renew $9 billion New solar + wind projects by 2025

Eversource $1 billion+ Investment through solar platforms: Radiance,

Ayana

Virescent $270 million KKR backed InViT for solar investments

Vibhuti Garg

Source: Climake & Unitus Capital

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY NEWS Nov–Dec Jan–Mar 2021 2022

39

higher than the SDS.

The year 2021 saw some bigticket

renewable energy investments

by large companies.

India needs to exploit the rapidly

growing pool of global capital

from sovereign wealth funds,

2019

global pension, private equity

2020-2027 - 2026

and infrastructure funds, as well

as global utilities plus oil and gas

majors pivoting to clean energy

but struggling to find infrastructure

projects at scale.

Private capital, institutional

investors, economic, social and

governance (ESG) financing, green

bonds, sustainability linked bonds,

infrastructure investment funds, etc.

will play a key role in helping achieve Electric Vehicle & Charging

Electric Vehicle & Charging

ambitious climate targets. Finance Infrastructure Market Overview

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[The Institute for Energy

Economics and Financial

Analysis (IEEFA) is a U.S. nonprofit

corporation that examines

issues related to energy

markets, trends, and policies;

with a mission to accelerate

the transition to a diverse,

sustainable and profitable

energy economy.]

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Shubham Gaikwad E: vishal.morab@ces-ltd.com

www.indiaesa.info

Jan–Mar 2022


40

E-MOBILITY

Mission ‘Shoonya’: Revolutionizing the

transport industry with EVs

In an exclusive interaction with Randheer Singh, Director - Electric

Mobility and senior team member for Advanced Chemistry Cells

Program at Niti Aayog, ETN brings out his take on the current state of

affairs in the Indian e-mobility industry. He also spoke about the recently

launched ‘Shoonya’ campaign to promote zero-emission delivery

vehicles, FAME II policy revision, and financing of EVs.

The ‘Shoonya — Zero-Pollution

Mobility’ campaign began this

year with an inspiring brand

film. It draws an analogy of the

concept of number ‘zero’ - and its

critical significance in the place value

(decimal) system in mathematics

and science in general - to ‘zeroemission’

in transportation to stress its

conceptual importance in achieving

sustainable mobility and a cleaner

environment.

The campaign was launched by

NITI Aayog and RMI in partnership

with leading industry players in

September last year. It aims to

raise awareness about EVs among

consumers, and recognize industry

efforts through an integrated

combination of corporate branding,

impact assessment and consumer

awareness.

“The vision of the campaign is to

promote the use of EVs for last-mile

delivery and ride-hailing services,

by recognizing industry efforts and

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at COP26

Source: ukcop26

Randheer Singh,

Director - Electric Mobility, Niti Aayog

raising consumer awareness about

EVs”, said Randheer Singh, Director -

Electric Mobility, Niti Aayog. “We have

over 75 corporate partners including

leading e-commerce companies,

ride-hailing companies, vehicle

manufacturers, fleet aggregators,

and charging infrastructure providers

to promote the electrification of the

commercial passenger and freight

transportation in urban, last-mile

applications”, he claimed.

The campaign incorporates

a corporate branding program,

through which deliveries, rides,

and associated vehicles and

infrastructure are branded with

the Shoonya logo. “The Shoonya

website will also host a resource

toolkit that will guide potential EV

customers,” explained Mr. Singh,

“with all essential information

required to procure EVs, including

cost comparison calculator, policy

map, and listing of financing options.”

“We hope that Shoonya becomes a

common slogan in every household,

thereby consumers create a

demand-pull scenario for EVs. We

are confident that this campaign will

encourage more industry partners

to join the initiative and help our


63 41

ESGC Roadmap: Track Structure and

country eliminate air pollution from till 2024 in the domestic EV industry, out by government of India along

the commercial transport sector.” Mr. Singh said that there has been with the World Bank. “We have also

The campaign claims Missions

that pushing a significant uptick in e-2W sale done a detailed analysis on various

all last-mile rides and deliveries

towards zero-emission can help our

country save about 17 kilo tons of

PM, 55 million tons of CO2, and 5.7

since the announcement. “Both the

industry and end customers are

welcoming the increase in subsidy to

`15,000 per kWh, and capping to 40

barriers to financing, and released a

handbook with 10 identified enablers

to accelerate EV financing in the

country.”

lakh crore worth of fuel every year. percent of the vehicle’s sales price.”

Technology

Manufacturing On & the e-3W Technology and Transition e-buses front, Policy & Auto ValuationPLI

Workforce

Development (TD) Supply Chain (M&SC)

(TT)

Charging infra and the aggregation model suggested (P&V)

Development

On the possible impacts of the

(WD)

FAME Maximize II the pace of Address major under the remodeled FAME II has auto PLI scheme in furthering

1. Enhance external Develop a

Develop the broad

Mr. storage Singh innovation is of the by opinion challenges that to resulted lowering in significant access to experts, drop in price coordinated, e-mobility, DOEwide

analysis that and the scheme required will for boost next

Mr.

workforce

Singh is positive

allying setting with corporate ambitious players manufacturing under of costs, vehicles by facilities, about and 20 IPpercent due

the Shoonya goals and mission rigorous can further accelerate the scale to up aggregation of 2. Industry and and homogenized technical generation assistance manufacturing research, and

strengthening evaluation of metrics, the EV ecosystem manufacturing product fleet, market he added. analysis program to support

availability of futuristic mobility

3. Industry and

effective energy

development,

in a big focused way, on usercentric

use cases and

including charging innovations, and

solutions in our country. “For sure,

interagency

storage policies,

design,

infrastructure. “They are the

enable

ones

reliable

EV Financing

collaboration and planning, this and will help in creation manufacture, of champion and

promising technology sourcing of critical

taking the innovative technological “Financing engagement is a big challenge regulation in OEMs across the for automotive operation. and related

pathways to meet materials and

and investment leads at this point, may the commercial 4. Develop EV real-world segments, United as States.

them.

components across

parts, while also giving big boost for

it be charging points in city centers, the interest projects rates hover to demo around and

supply chains.

20- the drones industry as well.”

battery swapping or BaaS models. 40 percent, validate thereby tech. making EV “With ICE technologies being highly

Together, with government efforts buying and owning unaffordable”, he developed and viability proven, we

including safety standardization acknowledged. Despite innovative have to nudge the auto manufacturers

measures from DST and BIS, the vehicle financing and battery fiscally to switch to newer and

prospects of achieving immense lead swapping that are promising to bring upcoming technologies. That is

Challenge (ESGC) roadmap batteries with a lifecycle of 20-30 promising battery chemistry due to

in e-mobility is apparent”.

down upfront costs, he opined that where auto PLI comes into picture,”

and the goal of United States to years, and this is a big challenge,” its low-cost and good performance.

He further informed that about larger issues such as unavailability he remarked. With continued policy

develop and manufacture energy said Venkat Srinivasan, Director “At Quantumscape, we are

`1,000 crore have been earmarked of easy credit with limited credit measure, we should be in a position

storage technologies that can – ACCESS, Argonne National developing Li-Metal LFP and Li-Metal

for charging infra development history or collaterals, low LTV, and to see a massive transformation and

meet all the marketplace demands Laboratory.

NMC, which can be appropriate

under FAME II scheme. Pointing absence of secondary market need adoption towards advanced auto

by 2030.

“Parallel to this, there is a big for different technologies,” Tim

out the Ministry of Power’s revised to be addressed.

components and EVs. The idea is to

While the panelists discussed concern for the supply chain. The Holme, Co-founder & TCO –

guidelines for charging stations in “A viable solution to this challenge make India hub of manufacturing in

that energy storage will play a key countries must start thinking of Quantumscape, said.

urban spaces, in an area of 3×3 would be OEM – banks or NBFCs emerging mobility trends.

role in transforming the economy, ways to optimize their supply chains

km grid in 9 big cities, he predicted partnerships, and captive finance

they recognized that there are to meet the growing demands.,”

that the combination of private options with long-term warranties

some barriers that will need to be he added.

home or office charging and battery or buy-back programs, which can

addressed.

Speaking of the strides in

swapping stations in public spaces improve confidence among EV

“For transportation, we must research and innovations in new

Shraddha Kakade

will dominate the EV charging buyers”, he suggested.

decrease the cost, enable fast forms of battery, the panelists also

Assistant Editor

market in the coming years.

Moreover, Mr. Singh added that

charging, and make batteries safer. touched upon LFP (lithium iron

ETN

When asked about the immediate initially loss risk-sharing mechanisms

In addition to the cost, we must make phosphate battery) – a popular and

effects of FAME II scheme extension and modalities are being worked

Presents

Available Podcasting

Sept–Oct Jan–Mar 2021 2022 |


42

SAFETY

Charging safety of EVs: Challenges and

key takeaways

This article takes a look at the critical aspects and concerns regarding charging

safety of electric vehicles, which involves a plethora of internal and external

hazards faced by the battery packs and charging piles during the recharging

process. Also mentioned are the essential focus areas for improvement

towards a comprehensive charging safety protection architecture.

With the gradual emergence of

electric vehicles as a potent

alternative to ICE vehicles in

recent times, consumer awareness

about EVs and the image or appeal

of battery vehicles among end users

are rapidly changing across the globe.

Yet, a key impediment to this changing

consumer mindset is related to the

safety and reliability aspects of battery

vehicles.

In particular, the instances of

spontaneous battery fires and

explosions during the charging of the

vehicles and frequent fire accidents

at charging stations are seriously

questioning the reliability of EVs in

the minds of the buyers. Thus, safety

of charging is emerging as one of the

prime concerns of the EV industry,

and is kindling immense interest

and R&D among suppliers to further

a comprehensive charging safety

protection architecture in EVs.

As the battery pack is the heart of

an EV, the on-board power systems

that supply energy to the battery pack

through charging piles, cables and

wiring harnesses, charging guns and

related components that helps the EVs

to get charged through the process of

‘conduction’, becomes as important

as the arteries and veins in human

body. Thus, adequate insulation and

communication protocols between

different components in the power

systems are required to keep the

charging process smooth and stressfree.

Battery thermal

runaways

Although global standards for

charging safety protection of EV

batteries and charging equipment are

already formulated, their compliance

Battery

short-circuit

Ambient

environment

Overcharge

Diaphragm

and

electrolyte

materials

Battery

pack

consistency

Charging safety of EVs and charging piles: Influencing factors

remains limited, and chargingrelated

accidents out of failure in

insulation, thermal management and

communication protocols continue to

occur. According to experts, battery

thermal runaway tops the causes of

frequent charging accidents involving

EVs, due to formation of lithium

dendrites inside the battery during the

charging process in large number of

cases, especially at low temperatures.

The EV industry is working

tremendously to avert thermal

runaways and improve charging

safety performance of the batteries.

One way is by designing the BMS to

supervise battery health and charging

status in real-time. Another aspect

is by establishing effective diagnosis

schemes and early warning models by

cutting-edge simulation and analysis

of failure cases. However, there is still

a long way to go, as battery thermal

runaways can happen due to a plethora

of influencing factors, at times even

going beyond the battery chemistry

and characteristics to the operational

characteristics of the charging facilities.

Short circuiting of

batteries

For instance, short-circuiting of

Insulation

Aging and

environmental

factors

Communication

protocols

and data

threats

Li-ion batteries is the most common

cause of thermal runaway. This

can happen due to overcharge or

overvoltage leading to electrolyte

decomposition as a result of formation

of gases such as H2, CO2 or CO,

and destabilization of cathode due to

release of O2. In addition, incorrect

charging methods, high ambient

temperatures and uneven distributed

polar coating can also cause battery

overcharge, among several other

factors. The risk of overcharge is also

closely related to number of charging

cycles of the battery.

Further, experts point out that

battery safety also depends on the

quality of the diaphragm material used

to separate the cathode from anode.

Uneven surface of the diaphragm

material may lead to formation of

lithium dendrites during the time

of charging, which can destroy the

diaphragm and cause short-circuiting.

Similarly, the quality and performance

of the electrolyte directly correlates to

the charging safety of the batteries.

Researchers suggest that the risk

of short-circuiting can be reduced

by selecting suitable materials and

reasonably adjusting the product

parameters based on fault-case


43

Causes of overcharge or

overvoltage hazard

● Wrong chargers for the

battery chemistry

● Universal chargers with

no logic to recognize the

chemistry of the battery

● Chargers with no stringent

safety controls

● Chargers with no battery

health monitoring

● Chargers with no current

cut-off mechanism after fullcharge

is achieved

● Unsafe chargers with no

charger failure controls

simulation during the development

and manufacturing processes.

As in case of India at present,

almost all battery packs in EVs are

assembled out of imported battery

cells, whose material quality and

manufacturing conformity affects the

performance and safety parameters

of the entire pack. Studies have

highlighted that even if the parameters

of the battery pack are exactly the

same, the accumulative charging

and discharging of EVs can cause

an internal attenuation effect in the

battery pack, resulting in differences

in a single battery.

A phenomenon called ‘bucket effect’

happens when a single battery with

large internal resistance struggles to

reach full charge than other single

batteries, thereby making it difficult

for the battery pack to reach the rated

capacity. In order to ensure that all cells

reach the full SoC, overcharging may

happen in such cells, which may affect

the life of a battery pack and even

threaten the safety of the supporting

equipment and EVs on the whole.

Charging environment is also a

critical factor that is often ignored in

the charging safety discussions. One

of the issues is lithium plating on the

anode graphite surface caused by

low-temperature charging with high

current and at a high state-of-charge

(SOC).

High charge current forces the

Li ions to move at a faster reaction

rate and accumulate on the surface

of the anode reducing the Li ions to

metallic Li instead of intercalating

into the anode crystal structure.

When charging at low temperature,

the reaction rate slows down thus

affecting the intercalation of Li ions.

However, poor capacity balance can

also lead to metallic Li deposition at

higher temperatures.

Li plating reduces the battery life

drastically and limits the fast-charging

capability. In severe cases, Li plating

can form lithium dendrite, which can

penetrate the separator and cause

internal short.

Charging pile safety

On the other hand, charging pile

safety is dependent on a different set

of factors. Insulation is one aspect that

suppliers need to pay more attention.

A fool-proof insulation design can

effectively provide a warning sign

to the failure of charging piles and

other safety problems. This includes

insulation protection performance

of the charging equipment shell,

electrical clearance, creepage

distance, dielectric strength, and

insulation resistance. In addition,

to prevent electrical shock related

accidents, protective measures to

overcome air humidity change, aging,

and moisture proofing of the insulation

material of the charging equipment

becomes important.

Communication is yet another

aspect of immense significance to the

safety of EVs and charging equipment.

When the communication protocols

between the EV and the charger

Charging safety protection of EV batteries: Focus areas

● Internal short-circuit detection and protection technologies

● Battery overcharge analysis and diagnostic protection mechanism

● Battery pack equalization technology

● Development and application of highly stable battery materials

● Battery status parameter monitoring and comprehensive fault

diagnosis method

is mismatched or incompatible,

interruption to charging or BMS

monitoring can happen, resulting in

overcharging, fire of charging piles or

even battery explosion. Therefore, proactive

miscommunication diagnosis

and safety timeout mechanisms need

to be in place, in both EVs and chargers,

to ensure charging safety. Additionally,

charging piles also face information or

data safety threats by way of malicious

networking or malware attacks on the

charging architecture that risks misuse

of charging data and privacy of end

users.

Aging of charging equipment and

related components with prolonged

usage in harsh weather and operating

conditions calls for more stringent

requirements on periodic maintenance

and safety assessment of the

charging stations. There have been

several instances of failure of public

EV chargers in open spaces with no

roofs after a thunderstorm or summer

typhoons in the West, resulting in

expensive damages to high-precision

ICs and microchips, even burning of

internal lines of the EVs.

Reliable supply of electricity from

the grid to the charging stations is yet

another external factor influencing the

charging safety, as voltage fluctuation

or electronic surge strikes can affect

the normal operation of the charging

pile.

Inputs for the above article have

been taken from following sources.

1. “Review of the Charging Safety

and Charging Safety Protection

of Electric Vehicles” by Linru

Jiang , Xiaohong Diao, Yuanxing

Zhang, Jing Zhang and Taoyong

Li, published in World Electric

Vehicle Journal, 2021, 12, Pg 184.

2. Presentation by Judith

Jeevarajan, VP & ED, Research

Electrochemical

Safety

Research Institute, Underwriters

Laboratories Inc. at the Workshop

on Charging infrastructure and

challenges for EV and ESS

charging held on March 10, 2022.

Jan–Mar 2022


44

COMPANY & ADVERTISER INDEX / IMPRINT

Abrdn 18

Adani New Industries Limited (ANIL) 11, 38

AES 28

Ashok Leyland 14

Automotive Transformation Fund 18

Ayana Renewable Power 9

Bajaj Auto 15

Ballard Power Systems 11

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) 13, 15

Britishvolt 18

Chhattisgarh Health Department 38

Climake & Unitus Capital 38

Common Service Centres (CSC) 14

Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) 17

Council on Energy, Environment and Water

(CEEW) 36

Dalmia Cement 38

Enapter 21

Eurocell EMEA 17

Eversource 38

Exide Industries 8

Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries 18

FIC Advanced Materials 17

FIC EMEA 17

Fluence 28

Ford 16

Fortum Charge & Drive India 25

Glencore 18

Gogoro Inc. 16

Great Wall Motors 8

Greenko Group 9

Hero MotoCorp 15

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation

Ltd. (HPCL) 9, 13

Honda Motor 22

H-TEC Systems 21

Husk Power Systems 9

IIT Hyderabad 40

India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) 26, 31

India Renewable Energy Development

Agency (IREDA) 9

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) 13

Indian Railways 38

Indong Advanced Materials 17

Institute for Energy Economics & Financial

Analysis (IEEFA) 38

ITC 38

Mahindra 38

Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd (MEML) 14

MAN Energy Solutions 21

Marathon Petroleum 20

McKinsey 38

Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) 12

Ministry of New and Renewable

Energy (MNRE) 9

Ministry of Power 10, 12, 35

Neste Corporation 20

Nexcharge 25

Niti Aayog 34

Okinawa Autotech 13

Ola Electric 8

Powin LLC 19

Prayas (Energy Group) 32

ProLogium Technology 16

Redwood Materials 16

Reliance 38

Renew 38

Siemens 28

Solar Energy Corporation of India 9

Sony Group 22

Sunverge Energy 17

SVOLT Energy Technology 8

Switch Mobility 14

Tata 38

Tritax 18

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 18

Virescent 38

Volvo 16

Bry-Air 6

CES India Stationary Storage Market Overview 41

Emerging Technology Review 31

ETN subscription form 46

ETN.News 19

Fluence 2

IESA IESW 2022 3

IESA Industry Excellence Awards 45

IESA Market Overview Report 39

IESA members & partners 47

Lucas TV 23

WESD 2022 48

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Director Strategic Initiatives, CES:

Ashok Thakur

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Contributing Editor:

Kathy Priyo

Corporate Communications:

Swati Gantellu

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SP Sneha

President – IESA & MD, CES India:

Dr Rahul Walawalkar

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Debi Prasad Dash

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