India has no lithium deposits that could be used to manufacture conventional lithium-ion battery cells.
But as India is looking to migrate to electric vehicles (EV) in a big way it has to have a constant supply of batteries and a manufacturing solution which is 100% indigenous.
Indian Oil, the state-owned oil company of India, has joined hands with Israeli battery start-up Phinergy, Ltd., keeping this vision of future in mind.
Founded in 2008, Phinergy has developed aluminum-air and zinc-air batteries intended for use in electric vehicles.
The company has raised $288 million to date and employs a team of 40 people in central Israel, according to Pitchbook data. Indian Oil signed a joint cooperation agreement with Phinergy in 2018.
The two companies will construct a factory in India to manufacture lithium-free EV batteries. The factory would have an initial capacity of 1 GWh but where the factory would be located or when the production might begin is yet to be disclosed.
No one as of now knows how aluminum-air and zinc-air batteries perform in the real world.
The company also intends to install more EV chargers and add battery swapping stations at its filling stations. It expects to rename its stations, which it will call Fuel Solution Centers in the future.
Reference- Clean Technica, Economic Times, IOC PR