Amara Raja Energy & Mobility will have its first giga factory operational by the end of next year. Vijayanand Samudrala, President of the automotive battery maker announced this as he addressed a session at the India Battery Manufacturing and Supply Chain Summit 2024 (IBMSCS) in Hyderabad. “We will have three or 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 16 GWh of lithium-ion battery cell capacity and up to 5 GWh 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.
Addressing the need for a robust giga factory ecosystem, Vijayanand said, "Giga factories require an integrated approach that marries high technology, large capex, giga scale factories with an eco-system, so it is not just about a large standalone factory, but also trunk infrastructure in terms of road connectivity, water availability, power facilities, training facilities, and upstream and downstream value chain players”.
Referring to Amara Raja's upcoming R&D facility close to the airport Vijayanand Samudrala highlighted that the company is also setting up its E Positive Energy Lab on 3,00,000 square feet of built-up space, adding that a significant part of the facility would be dedicated to collaborating with customer, supplier partners, start-ups and innovation entities.
With this initiative, the company aims to create an ecosystem, an infrastructure, for those who want to try innovative technologies. Referencing his visits to giga factories across Europe, China, Korea, and other countries, Samudrala outlined what was necessary for giga factories to flourish, pointing out the importance of an ecosystem rather than just a large standalone factory.