According to Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries Ltd., an oil-to-telecoms conglomerate, plans to begin production at its new battery Gigafactory in the second half of 2019.
With an annual capacity of 30 GWh, the plant will first assemble battery systems and packs before moving on to the production of chemicals and cells.
Ambani told investors at the company’s annual general meeting “We have already begun construction of an integrated advanced chemistry-based battery manufacturing facility with a 30 GWh annual capacity at Jamnagar. Production will commence by the second half of next year”.
The 5,000-acre Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat, is where the facility will be built. Through its subsidiary Lithium Werks, the business has already established a pilot line with a capacity of 50 MWh annually for the production of lithium-ion battery cells, which can be expanded for commercial production.
Ambani said, “The modular design [of gigafactory] will allow us to rapidly expand annual capacity in multiples of 30 GW, responding to both domestic and global demand while meeting diversity requirements from stationary to mobility applications”.
Reliance Industries looks to leverage electrochemical and product innovation expertise from its subsidiaries Lithium Wreks and Faradion to drive the fully integrated battery Gigafactory. It boasts a team of nearly 150 technologies to deliver next-generation batteries and storage solutions with a focus on safety, stability and reduced life cycle costs. It is also working on the commercialisation of its sodium-ion battery technology and has plans to industrialize sodium-ion cell production at a megawatt level by next year.