Exide Industries (EIL), the storage battery giant and leader in automotive battery business in India, is zeroing in on Haldia for a likely investment of Rs 800 crore. The company has already got 40 acres land in the port town.
Exide will use a portion of the land adjacent to the factory for expansion while another land parcel, two kilometres away from the plant, would host a battery recycling plant. This will reduce its dependence on import of lead by 60%. At present, Exide doesn’t have any recycling plant in Bengal.
Besides expansion and recycling, EIL is also contemplating to set up a bipolar battery unit in Haldia. The company has entered into a technical agreement with Advanced Battery Concepts, LLC of the US for the bipolar lead acid storage battery technology. The technology is used to reduce lead content in battery by up to 30%.
Bipolar battery is majorly used in telecom and e-ricksaw. Currently it has 25% market share in Rs 3,000 crore E-ricksaw battery market.
Exide is looking at sectors like, bus, renewable energy storage devices, traction battery and two-wheeler. Exide has recently formed a joint venture (JV) with Switzerland-based Leclanché SA, one of the world’s top energy storage solution companies for lithium ion technology. It is using the acquired facility of 16acres from Todor India for the project. The company is investing Rs 1,000 crore in the project and it would be ready by the second quarter of next year.
Reference- TOI, Exide website, Impact Battery