March 17, 2022: Indian lead-acid battery maker Exide Industries said on March 10 it had agreed a long-term technical collaboration deal with China’s SVOLT Energy Technology for lithium ion cell manufacturing in India.
Under the terms of the agreement, announced in a regulatory filing, Exide said it would be licensed to “use, exploit and commercialize” SVOLT’s technology to launch multi-gigawatt battery cell manufacturing in India for the energy storage and automotive sectors.
SVOLT, which has its headquarters in China’s Jiangsu province, will also support the setting up of a state-of-the art green field manufacturing plant on a turnkey basis.
Exide said it is forming a special purpose vehicle, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, to run the manufacturing business — and is in a “fairly advanced stage of discussions” for finalizing a construction site.
Finance rounds
Exide managing director and CEO Subir Chakraborty said the partnership was “a major step forward in Exide’s aspiration of becoming a leading player in the rapidly emerging new-age electric mobility and stationary application businesses in India”.
Chakraborty said the new manufacturing facility would focus on two popular cell chemistries and three cell formats.
Last August, SVOLT closed a series ‘B’ financing of Rmb10.28 billion (about $1.6 billion), following a series ‘A’ financing of Rmb3.5 billion at the end of February 2021.
Earlier this year, Exide increased its majority stake in its Nexcharge lithium ion joint venture with Swiss battery company Leclanché to 84.90%.
Photo: SVOLT stationary storage system