Auto-electrical components manufacturer, Lucas TVS eyes li-ion battery manufacturing

Joining the growing list of companies venturing into battery cell manufacturing in India, motor vehicle manufacturing company, Lucas TVS on Saturday (August 26) announced it will be setting up lithium-ion battery pack manufacturing plant in Thervoy Kandigai, Tiruvallur District in Chennai.

"We are thrilled to begin a new journey towards innovation and excellence in battery solutions for e-mobility and BESS applications," Lucas TVS stated in a social media post.

In September 2021, Lucas TVS signed an agreement with leading developer of next-generation lithium-ion battery, 24M Technologies, Inc., to produce lithium-ion batteries with an investment of INR 2,500 crores to build one of the first gigafactories in India based on semi-solid platform technology.

In an announcement made then, Lucas TVS stated that the Chennai plant will begin commercial production in the second half of 2023. Based on the aggressive targets set by the government in the renewable energy and electric mobility space, Lucas TVS plans to grow the capacity of the plant to a globally competitive scale of 10 GWh in two stages.

In January 2022, Lucas TVS was among the 10 companies that submitted bids under the Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage Programme in India for which Request for Proposal (RFP) was released by Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) in October 2021.

However, in March 2022, MHI announced results of the bid and four companies namely, Ola Electric Mobility, Hyundai Global Motors, Reliance New Energy Solar, and Rajesh Exports were selected for incentive under PLI scheme for ACC Battery Storage. Later, Hyundai Global Motors which was allotted 20 GWh capacity pulled out of the scheme, following which MHI opened the window for re-bidding of the balance 20GWh capacity under the scheme.