In the month of June 2018, ISRO had issued the request for qualification (RFQ) in connection with VSSC’s (Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre) lithium-ion cells of capacities ranging from 1.5 Ah to 100 Ah. The issuance was intended to transfer the technology to the industries and establish production facilities for producing lithium-ion cells which would cover the entire spectrum of power storage requirements of the country. ISRO has revealed that 141 companies have approached VSSC for the technology.
The indigenously built lithium-ion cells were developed for satellites and launch vehicles and were successfully deployed in various missions for ISRO and VSSC. During a pre-application conference that was attended by 190 representatives of 141 companies, Dr S Somanath, director, VSSC said that the lithium-ion battery technology could revolutionise the power storage sector in any applications. He proposed the lithium-ion cell battery technology buyers to innovate further on the baseline technology offered by VSSC that should further address the specific needs of the market.
There was an electric scooter in the pre-application conference that was developed in association with Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune which incorporates a 50 Ah VSSC Li-ion cell.