’Boost to e-mobility’: Indian Oil partners with Israel’s Phinergy to manufacture metal-air batteries

The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Wednesday entered into a collaboration with the Israeli start-up company Phinergy to form IOC Phinergy Private Limited.

The collaboration will manufacture Aluminum-Air systems in India to boost the "Make in India" programme and recycle used Aluminum to strengthen India's energy security.

Also Read | Why India needs to look east at Taiwan

According to an official statement, leading automotive manufacturers Maruti Suzuki and Ashok Leyland have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the IOC Phinergy Private Limited. This is expected to prove to be a significant boost to India's pursuit of e-mobility.

"The joint venture will facilitate will help India in its journey towards clean, sustainable, affordable, safe, and long-lasting energy options and facilitate much faster adoption of e-vehicles in the country," said Union Min Dharmendra Pradhan after the collaboration.

"The fruition of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, inter alia, resulted in this Joint Venture being launched today," he added.

According to Pradhan, the onerous task of ensuring ample access to energy combined with the need to have a smaller carbon footprint will be made easy with the development of indigenous batteries using locally available Aluminum.

The minister further said that the Aluminum-Air systems in India will help the country in becoming "Aatmanirbhar" for energy requirements.

He expressed happiness that apart from Maruti Suzuki, leading automobile industry representatives such as Ashok Leyland and Mahindra Electric are part of the validation of the technology, while urging the Indian industry, primarily the automotive manufacturers, to extend all necessary support to the joint venture for commercializing the Aluminum-Air technology.

Steinitz also lauded the initiative, saying that this is indicative of increasingly close cooperation between the two countries.

Tarun Kapoor, Secretary, MoP&NG, said that India's energy demand is going to increase at a faster pace compared to the world, and the country is looking for a breakthrough in storage technology-batteries that are compact, cheaper, lighter and have higher energy density. He described today's initiative as pathbreaking, according to the release.

"With one of the most extensive customer interfaces in the country, IndianOil has been working continuously to improve customer's experience and provide solutions for all kinds of energy needs. The JV between IndianOil and Phinergy for commercializing Aluminum-Air technology is an important initiative towards technology-driven Energy Transition," said IndianOil chairman SM Vaidya.

"Al-Air technology will help us overcome most of the current challenges for e-Vehicles and address most of the potential customers' pain-points, including range anxiety, higher cost of purchase, and safety issues. This technology will also boost India's existing aluminium industry and help the nation become Self-reliant in the energy field and promote the 'Make in India' drive," added Vaidya.

Dr SSV Ramakumar, Director (R&D) spoke about the game the changing technology of metal-air battery which would define a new e-mobility paradigm in the Indian context.