Telangana Mobility Valley will boost EV growth: Jayesh Ranjan

EV Boom in T’gana

• Govt sets up 2 OEM clusters in Zaheerabad & Seetharampuram
• Energy storage park: Dedicated industrial park for battery production
• Testing & certification cluster: 21 labs in Vikarabad district
• Research & skilling: Partnering with IITs, IIITs, BITS Pilani & NIT Warangal

Hyderabad: To support the growth of sustainable mobility the government has come up with Telangana Mobility Valley, under which two dedicated clusters for OEMs have been set up at Zaheerabad and Seetharampuram. Also, the State has introduced a dedicated energy storage park (industrial park), and cluster for testing battery cell.

Delivering the keynote address at India Battery Manufacturing and Supply Chain Summit held in Hyderabad on Tuesday, Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Government of Telangana, said: “We have tried to create a comprehensive concept in the State called as Telangana Mobility Valley. All aspects of sustainable mobility will get support in this mobility valley. There are four important components of this mobility valley, which includes two dedicated clusters for OEM’s, energy storage (industrial) park, cluster for quality testing/certification, and research and skilling.”

The Principal Secretary informed that with the help of global players the government is setting up a quality and testing cluster which will have 21 labs in Vikarabad district. And for research and skilling, the government has decided to support four premier institutions- IIT Hyderabad, IIIT-H, BITS Pilani Hyderabad, and NIT Warangal. In collaboration with the industry, these institutes will be promoting research and skilling in different aspects of EV’s and energy storage. Bosch is setting up a centre in NIT Warangal, Hyundai is setting up a facility in BITS Hyderabad campus, and similarly other players are planning to partner with IIT and IIIT-H, Jayesh Ranjan said adding that the government will continue to promote startups, working on innovation in sustainable mobility, through T-Hub.

Speaking on the Telangana governments target of achieving 30GWh ACC (advanced chemistry cell) battery storage out of the Centre’s target of 150GWh ACC by 2030, he said that the State has been successful in getting 28GWh wherein Amara Raja is investing in a 16GWh manufacturing facility in the State, and a week ago, at Davos, the Telangana government signed an agreement with Godi Energy for a 12GWh battery manufacturing facility. The State is also in the advanced stages of talks with a few other companies. Amara Raja’s first Giga factory will be up and running before the end of next year, president of Amara Raja Vijayanand Samudrala shared at the IBMSCS 2024. “We will have three to four individual factory buildings, dealing with two chemistries, both NMC as well as LFP, and two formats, cylindrical as well as prismatic.

Amara Raja is aiming for 16GWh of lithium-ion battery cell capacity and up to 5GWh of battery capacity. These will cater to a range of mobility as well as energy storage applications. The first phase will be completed in less than 24 months, which means our first Giga factory will be operational before the end of next calendar year (2025),” he said.

“We are also setting up our E Positive Energy Lab on three lakh sft of built-up space,” he said, referring to Amara Raja’s upcoming R&D facility near the airport, adding that a significant part of the facility would be dedicated for collaborating with customer, supplier partners, startups and innovation entities.

The two-day summit is organised by India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA). The third edition of the annual event witnessed discussions on indigenous battery manufacturing in India. The key dignitaries included Debi Prasad Dash, Executive Director, IESA; Dr Rahul Walawalkar, president, IESA; Frank Talluto, Sr Economic Officer, the US Department of State; Vikram Handa, Managing Director, Epsilon and Anjani Mourya, Founder, Altmin. Over 300 registered attendees, including industry leaders, policymakers, think tanks, and subject matter experts attended the summit.