Agratas Energy Storage Solutions, the newly-formed company of Tata Sons, aims to become an end-to-end player in battery cell systems, with aspirations to cater to a variety of segments and tap a host of battery technologies as part of its long-term plan.
The Tata Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government last week to set up a lithium-ion cell factory entailing an investment of Rs 13,000 crore having a capacity of 20-gigawatt hour, which could be doubled in the second phase of expansion. A factory in Europe is also being planned.
Derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Agra’, which stands for empowered leadership, combined with ‘gravitas’, Agratas wants to have a politically de-risked control of the whole supply chain upstream as well as downstream and localise its key elements, an investor presentation presented by Thomas Flack, CEO, Agratas Energy, said on Wednesday.
The wide spectrum of activity within the company will include extraction of raw material, cell production, cell testing and validation, repurpose and reuse and recycle.
The plant, which is expected to become operational in the next three years, will reduce dependency on battery cell suppliers from countries like China and South Korea.
While batteries that will be supplied to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will have long range (more than 500 km range) with focus on performance (0-100 kph in 4.1 seconds) and fast-charging (20 minutes), batteries supplied to Tata Motors will focus on lifecycle (8-year battery warranty), safety and affordability.
In addition, Agratas will supply to the light to heavy truck and bus segment also besides two and three-wheelers and energy storage solutions.
While the LFP (lithium iron phosphate) and NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) chemistry battery will be used in the initial phase for Tata Motors and JLR, the medium-term plan includes shifting to LMFP battery and silicon technology before switching to solid-state technology and lithium-sulfur and lithium-air batteries, along with a host of other technologies, in the long-term.
Agratas is investing in renewable energy farms besides partnering with existing renewable energy sources to deliver power requirements.
The company is also partnering with governments to assure access and support over the grid to secure continuous power.
