IIT Hyderabad-incubated Startup to collaborate with CSIR-CECRI

By OEM Update Editorial December 23, 2020 1:51 pm IST

IIT Hyderabad-incubated Startup PURE EV is collaborating with CSIR – Central Electro Chemical Research Institute (CECRI), headquartered at Karaikudi with its Extension Centre at CSIR Madras Complex, Chennai on indigenizing Lithium-Ion Battery (LIB) technology for electric vehicles. This initiative will support the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives of the Government of India.

PURE EV has signed an MoU with CSIR- CECRI to undertake joint research on the production of battery packs, validation of LIB cells, and addressing the specific requirements to ensure the suitability of developed LIBs for critical performance at the Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) conditions.

Significance of Lithium battery

Lithium battery is the most reliable and commercially-viable choice for electric vehicles across the world. Currently, in India, Lithium cells are mainly imported from China, which is a very critical dependence necessary for final battery packs required for electric vehicles.

Relevancy of IIT Hyderabad-incubated Startup PURE EV project in market

To address this market monopoly, CSIR has launched a project titled, ‘CSIR Innovation Centre for Next Generation Energy Storage Solutions (ICeNGESS)’ with an aim to produce LIBs on a 100 MW scale. PURE EV is an electric vehicle vertical of the startup PuREnergy that is engaged in design and development of advanced LIBs manufacturing with core focus on battery thermal management system, hence making it one of the top picks in this mission.

Speaking about this mission, Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, Government of India, said, “Achieving self-reliance and developing core competence in Lithium cells manufacturing is critical for the emergence of electric vehicles as a predominant mode of transportation in India. Since we are starting from a low base, it is critical that the eminent institutions working in the cell manufacturing also collaborate with the industry partners who can carry out accelerated testing to provide the necessary feedback for further improvements.”

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Speaking about the Collaboration between CSIR-CECRI and PURE EV, Dr. Shekhar C. Mande, Secretary, DSIR & DG, CSIR said “Towards making India Aatmanirbhar in energy sector, CSIR-CECRI with its expertise in the field of electrochemical energy storage systems is working towards the indigenization of lithium battery technology and strengthen the indigenous supply chain and infrastructure requirements.

This collaboration with PURE EV is an appreciable initiative and is expected to boost the electric vehicles commercialization in the country”.

How will IIT Hyderabad-incubated Startup PURE EV project benefit India

Speaking about the collaboration with PURE EV, Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Director of CSIR-CECRI, said, “CECRI is working on mission mode under the project titled “CSIR Innovation Centre for Next Generation Energy Storage Solutions (ICeNGESS)” which would enable indigenous Lithium-Ion technology to help the country in addressing the requirements of its mission on electrification of two/three/four wheelers apart from stationary and storage applications.

The emphasis of this program falls under the umbrella of Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiatives of the GoI. We look forward to a very fruitful collaboration with PURE EV who will be our industry partner in the battery pack assembly, testing and performance benchmarking. We intend that such partnerships open up door for further collaboration opportunities.”

To reduce the dependency on imports of battery components, India needs to achieve a similar level of performance at the battery pack level, apart from just manufacture the battery cells. Under this MoU, Pure EV will also provide critical feedback to CSIR- CECRi in understanding the technical limits of the manufactured cells and the additional improvements which will be required to achieve mass scale commercialisation.