Get away from lithium-ion battery for Electric Vehicles, move towards Hydrogen fuel cells: VK Singh

Union Minister VK Singh also mentioned that India needs to move towards hydrogen fuel cells to pursue the goal of green mobility as we have no control over lithium-ion batteries, reports PTI.

Union Minister V K Singh stated on Wednesday that India needs to abandon lithium-ion battery technology for electric vehicles as soon as possible since the nation has no control over the commodity. At the launch of EV India 2022, an electric vehicle motor show, the minister of state for road transport and highways, Singh, stated that the nation may eventually advance to hydrogen fuel cells in its pursuit of green mobility. As a result, players in the sector must begin working concurrently on these technologies.

He said a lot of work is happening in India's battery segment on how to reduce dependency on lithium-ion batteries. Different researches are going on regarding the usage of sodium-ion and zinc-ion "because we would like to get away from lithium-ion," he added.

India neither produces lithium nor does it have control over it, and the country has to import it, the minister said. "There is a problem where lithium is concerned, and the earlier we get out of it, the better it is," Singh asserted.

Currently, most of the electric vehicles sold in India use lithium-ion battery technology, although some electric rickshaws are still powered by lead-acid batteries. The minister said India is also working heavily on hydrogen cell technology, which has a lot of potential.

"We are at par with what is happening in Japan (in a hydrogen fuel cell)," he said, adding India's biggest advantage is that the cost is the lowest as far as green hydrogen is concerned because of the low solar energy cost.

"In the future, probably we are going to graduate from electric to hydrogen," Singh said. He said industry players in the green mobility sector need to work simultaneously on the new technologies. "People who are working in this field, you have to make a decision as to what you want to do because this cannot be sequential," he said, adding the approach cannot be EV first followed by hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Singh expressed confidence that EVs penetration in India will grow multifold as it has a lot of potential, but companies also need to address consumers' concerns about range anxiety and charging infrastructure to accelerate its growth further. The second edition of EV India 2022 is being organised by the Indian Exhibition Services and Green Society of India, along with the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles.

With inputs from PTI