Epsilon Advanced Materials Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India, a leading manufacturer of advanced cell chemistry materials, has received an initial order for its anode precursor material from top two-anode makers in Japan and China.
The company, a subsidiary of Epsilon Carbon Pvt. Ltd., Musinayakanahall, Karnataka, India, is targeting sales volumes of 10,000 tonnes of anode precursor material in this fiscal year, largely from overseas companies.
Epsilon is also in advanced stages of getting its material qualified with upcoming cell-manufacturing facilities in the US and Europe.
Globally, synthetic graphite has 60 per cent market share in the anode material space. With this positive results, Epsilon has successfully qualified as a supplier in global lithium-ion battery supply chain, the firm said. The company plans to expand its synthetic graphite capacity to 35,000 tonnes by 2025.
Vikram Handa, Managing Director of Epsilon Carbon, said the company’s material is highly suited to support cell-makers in developing longer-range and quick-charging batteries. Worldwide, many countries have announced plans to set up battery-making giga factories to support their mobility and energy storage needs of 2,600 GWh by 2030.
Under Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiatives – which translates to ‘self-reliant India’ or ‘self-sufficient India’, is a term used by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in relation to economic development in country – Government has come-up with a PLI scheme for 10 sectors including Advanced Cell Chemistry battery to facilitate & promote Indigenous supply chain manufacturing capabilities. Through this scheme at least, 5 Giga factories (10 GWh each) are expected to come-up immediately with each factory attracting an investment of $1 billion. Under this scheme, there is a total cash subsidy of INR ~34000 crores over the next 10 years.
Cell manufacturers looking forward to set-up their facility under the PLI scheme are approaching Epsilon to secure their raw material needs. Epsilon being a 100 percent indigenous producer of anode material, gives them a competitive advantage in complying with localization norms to avail subsidies. Epsilon’s manufacturing leadership in graphite anodes will make India self-sufficient as a key raw material for LiB cells. With a capacity of 35000 Tons of synthetic graphite, Epsilon would be able to support 35 GWH of cell manufacturing.
