ISRO selects 10 firms for transfer of lithium-ion technology

According to ISRO, lithium-ion cell technology is a powerful electrochemical energy storage technology owing to its high voltage, energy, density among others. It finds wide applications in electronic gadgets, telecommunication, and industrial applications as well as in aerospace.

In fact, recent advances in Li-ion battery technology have made it the preferred power source for electric and hybrid electric vehicles also. ISRO sources said that Li-ion battery is the most dominating battery system which finds applications for a variety of societal needs including mobile phones, laptops, PDA, cameras and many other portable consumer gadgets.

ISRO is now offering to transfer this technology to competent Indian industries and start-ups on non-exclusive basis to establish Li-ion cell production facilities in the country that can produce cells of varying size, capacity, energy density and power density catering to the entire spectrum of power storage requirements.

The selected Indian companies for technology transfer include Amara Raja Batteries Limited, Chittoor; Bharat Electronics Limited, Pune; Carborundum Universal Limited, Kochi; Exicom Tele-Systems Limited, Gurgaon; GOCL Corporation Limited, Hyderabad; Jyoti CNC Automation Limited, Rajkot; National Aluminium Co Limited, Bhubaneswar; Sukhbir Agro Energy Limited, New Delhi; Tata Chemicals Limited, Mumbai and Thermax Limited, Pune.

This initiative is expected to enable zero emission policy of the country and accelerate the development of the indigenous electric vehicle industry.

ISRO has successfully developed and qualified Li-ion cells of capacities ranging from 1.5 Ah to 100 Ah for use in satellites and launch vehicles.