WOLLONGONG: After Tamil Nadu government unveiled the revised e-vehicle policy, Australia-based company Sicona, which develops next-generation battery materials technology, is planning to set up a plant in Chennai through a joint venture with an Indian company.
Christian Jordaan, founder and chief executive officer, told visiting Indian journalists at Wollongong University, which is helping Australia in the energy transition that the company will be developing next-generation battery materials technology used in the anodes (negative electrodes) of lithium-ion (“Li-ion”) batteries that enable electric-mobility and storage of renewable energy.
“This will significantly increase the energy density to bring down the cost upfront for electric vehicles,” he says.
“We are commercialising an innovative silicon-composite battery anode technology, developed and perfected over the last 10 years at the Australian Institute for Innovative Materials (AIIM). Sicona’s current generation silicon-composite anode technology delivers 50 per cent to 100 per cent higher capacity than conventional graphite anodes and its anode materials can deliver more than 50 per cent higher cell energy density than current Lithium-ion batteries,” said Jordaan.
Jordaan says after the domination by China in the manufacturing of batteries, things are changing geopolitically after Covid-19 as US and India are planning to localise the manufacturing of batteries.