Telangana eyes Latin America for lithium salts to power EV, ESS ecosystem

Zaheerabad and Seetharampur have been identified as EV and component manufacturing clusters, while Yenkathala has been designated as research and innovation cluster.

Telangana government is working to source lithium salts from Latin America as a part of its measures to build an ecosystem for emerging electric vehicle and energy storage solutions (EV and ESS) sector, Industries and IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao said in Hyderabad on August 11.

It has nominated Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation to enter into collaborations for securing access to lithium and other minerals in Latin American countries along with local joint venture partners, he said laying foundation for battery maker Amara Raja’s advanced energy research and innovation centre E Positive Energy Labs at GMR Aerocity, near the airport here.

The Minister mentioned this while pointing out to how, in line with a thrust on promoting growth of the sector, the State had launched Telangana Mobility Valley and aims to create best in class infrastructure to enable manufacturing and research and development in the EV and ESS space. The Valley will comprise four manufacturing clusters to facilitate companies across segments, including EVs, advanced cell chemistry (ACC), batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, component manufacturers besides engineering and R&D.

Zaheerabad and Seetharampur have been identified as EV and component manufacturing clusters, while Yenkathala has been designated as research and innovation cluster. Divitipally will play host to India’s first new energy park, he said, asserting how the Mobility Valley will be to the State what Genome Valley, near here, is for vaccine production. The latter had helped Telangana emerge as a global leader in vaccine production by accounting for 9 billion doses or one-third of global annual production.

Out of the 150 GWh capacity – 60% of the 260 GWh demand projected for ACC batteries in India by this decade – to be created in the country by 2030, Telangana aims to host 30 GWh capacity lithium giga factories, Mr. Rao said. He thanked Amara Raja Group, whose E Positive Energy Labs will be a part of the ₹9,500 crore giga corridor project it announced last year, for reposing faith in Telangana.

A leading industrial and automotive battery manufacturer, Amara Raja Batteries said E Positive Energy Labs will be first-of-its-kind centre in Hyderabad and equipped with advanced laboratories and testing infrastructure for material research, prototyping, product life cycle analysis and proof-of-concept demonstration. It aims to drive breakthroughs in energy storage, electric mobility and renewable energy integration and serve as a catalyst for multi-stakeholder collaboration and for fostering entrepreneurship in this fast-emerging sector.

Chairman and managing director Jayadev Galla said the facility is poised to be a beacon of pioneering research and innovation in advanced energy technologies.