BENGALURU: An offer made by Indian Space Research Organisation to share its expertise in developing lithium-ion cells indigenously is likely to be taken up by many companies leading to a renewed wave of interest in electric vehicles across the country.
After the space agency invited companies to submit requests for sharing of technology in June, a meeting was held with 190 representatives of 141 firms from across the country late last month ahead of the opening of the requests next week. The technology will be transferred to all qualifying companies at a cost of `1 crore each.
The ISRO has successfully developed lithium-ion cells of capacities ranging from 1.5 Ah to 100 Ah.
At the meeting, S Somanath, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, which developed the technology, spoke about how the centre had tested the Li-ion cells for use in various applications. He added that the centre can help with initial hand-holding as mentioned in the Request for Qualification.
The state government has also brought in measures to fuel the sales like the planned installation of charging points across the city. The requests submitted by the 141 firms will be opened on August 14.