C4V inks MoU with Hindalco for EV battery material

C4V, the US-based Li-Ion battery technology company, has signed
an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Hindalco Industries, for the development and supply of Battery Grade Aluminium foils, Coated Foils and structural components for Li-ion cells. 

As per the MoU, Hindalco will provide up to 2,000 tons of battery foil to C4V, over
a five-year period. The agreement also outlines a strategic roadmap
encompassing collaboration on materials and joint technology development,
aligning with the evolving demands of the Indian EV market, and is focused on self reliance in India's EV battery technology.

Hindalco recently announced the setting up of a 25,000 tonne battery foil
manufacturing facility in Odisha.

One of the reasons battery electric cars are so expensive, when compared to regular internal combustion cars, is because the lithium that goes into the batteries is very expensive. Batteries today cost an average of USD 160 per kWh and most of the cost comes from lithium. This difficult to find, and even more difficult to extract resource, is currently mined primarily in Australia and South America. It is then sent halfway across the world to be refined; China processes 58 percent of the world's lithium, and then often it is finally shipped again to another corner of the world to be assembled into cells. This happens either in China, Japan, Korea or the US.

With lithium found in India, we potentially could be able to create an entire battery cell ecosystem here, one that sources, refines and then produces cells locally.