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The Union Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh has said that the government will bring out another production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for batteries to bring down cost and boost the adoption of electric vehicles in India. He was of the view that the price of storage will come down with higher volumes. 

The minister pointed towards limited battery manufacturing capacity in the world and termed it as a reason for high prices. He opined that higher cost and lower driving range are issues in adopting EVs. He said the central government had approved the PLI scheme for manufacturing advanced chemistry cell (ACC) batteries at an estimated outlay of Rs 18,100 crore in May 2021, with an objective to attract foreign and domestic investment of Rs 45,000 crore. The scheme was aimed to achieve manufacturing of 50GW of battery storage. 

Singh further said the ACCs are the new generation of advanced storage technologies that can store electric energy either as electrochemical or as chemical energy and convert it back to electric energy as and when required. He pointed out that transition to EVs will reduce emissions in India. He stated that 80 per cent of lithium resources are tied up by one country and 88 per cent of processing of lithium is also in one country. He said ‘we are lucky that we have some lithium reserves in Jammu.’ He suggested the need to shift away from lithium to other chemistry (of batteries).