1,151-cr. investment can help India in battery tech. Race

• A strategic investment of ₹1,151 crore over five years could give India a significant international lead in the development of advanced technology necessary to make batteries to electrify the vehicles of tomorrow.

Highlights:

• The report has been prepared by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and commissioned by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India.
• The “e-mobility R&D Roadmap” breaks down necessary steps to achieve advanced capabilities in developing the technological knowhow to get a lead in battery technology.
• The four broad areas, or ‘buckets’, are: energy storage cells, electric vehicle aggregates, materials and recycling and, charging and refueling.
• Each bucket is subdivided into projects that have timelines ranging from two to five years. The report includes a projected cost for each of these components and they cumulatively add up to ₹1,151 crore.
• There are estimates of the degree of risk involved in the project ranging from ‘nil’ to ‘high’. The projects also list out technical institutions that could potentially be roped in to deliver on specific components of the project.
• India’s fleet of electric vehicles is primarily dependent on lithium-battery imports. While there were announcements on large lithium reserves in India, they are yet to be sufficiently exploited though the government has recently paved the private sector to mine for some of these ‘rare earth’ minerals.

Prelims Takeaway:

• FAME