C4V, the US-based Li-Ion battery technology company, has signed a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Hindalco Industries, for the development and supply of Battery Grade Aluminium foils, Coated Foils and structural components for Li-ion cells.
According to the agreement, Hindalco will supply C4V with up to 2,000 tons of battery foil over a five-year period. The agreement also includes a strategic plan spanning material collaboration and cooperative technology development, aligned with the increasing demands of the Indian EV industry, and is centered on India’s EV battery technology self-sufficiency.
Hindalco announced the establishment of a 25,000-tonne battery foil manufacturing facility in Odisha lately.
One of the reasons battery electric cars are so expensive when compared to traditional internal combustion vehicles is the high cost of lithium used in the batteries. Batteries presently cost an average of USD 160 per kWh, with lithium accounting for the majority of the cost. This hard to find and even harder to extract mineral is now exploited largely in Australia and South America. It is then shipped halfway across the world to be refined; China processes 58% of the world’s lithium, and it is frequently shipped back to another part of the world to be assembled into cells. This occurs in China, Japan, Korea, and the United States.
With lithium found in India, we potentially could be able to create an entire battery cell ecosystem here, one that sources, refines and then produces cells locally.