Hyundai, Ola Electric, and Reliance New Energy Solar have applied for the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme aimed for advanced battery manufacturing, according to official filing papers from India's Press Information Bureau (PIB).
The PLI application opportunity for advanced chemistry cell batteries was announced last October and applications were due on Jan 15. Official papers showed that 10 companies have applied, including only one foreign enterprise, Hyundai.
The other nine local companies include Reliance Group's clean energy arm (which plans to build four gigafactories for green energy), Ola Electric, and other vehicle, battery, and power suppliers.
To better equip the emerging economy with a complete supply chain, the Indian government has announced clean energy-fuel vehicle PLIs, battery PLIs, and FAME II, a subsidy plan for EV purchases. Even though numerous local automotive manufacturers are raising investment in producing electric vehicles, India lacks a battery supply chain and most batteries used in India are imported.
Any supplier that seeks a battery PLI is required to set up a factory with an annual production capacity of at least 5GWh within five years and reach specified levels of minimum investment and minimum local procurement. The scheme's goal is to build a battery supply chain with a production capacity of 50GWh a year and to attract INR450 billion (US$6.06 billion) in direct investment.
The scheme is designed to help the country reduce imports of crude oil by INR2-2.5 trillion and to bring sales of electric vehicles to 30% of total vehicle sales by 2030.
