How the rising demand and sales of electric vehicles in India are boosting the production of lithium-ion batteries in the country

By: Deepak Pahwa 

As per the current trends, India is projecting an upward trajectory for the electric vehicle market. Pledging to become an electric vehicle-first nation by 2030, the country is actively adopting this green cleantech solution to bring down the harmful emission into the environment. The support provided in the form of subsidies enhanced awareness, and increasing product launches amplified electric vehicle penetration across the automotive segments.

As per the industry reports, the Indian electric vehicle market is expected to grow at an annual compounded rate of 49 per cent between 2021 to 2030. It will directly influence the demand for Lithium-ion batteries which is forecasted to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 41 per cent in the same period. The Li-ion batteries market share has been increasing steadily, whereas, in the previous year itself, the demand for the batteries exceeded the 1GWh threshold for the first time.

The demand for Li-ion batteries is directly proportional to the sale of electric vehicles as it is an essential component in the vehicle, highly preferred for its safe charging and discharging energy ability, minimum charging time along with falling price. It makes up for 40-50% of the total cost of an electric vehicle for the advanced technology that powers the unrivalled performance of the electric vehicle. Thus, any fault in the battery will be responsible for the recall of the product from the market. It can highly impair the growth prospects of the electric vehicle industry by plaguing the vehicle with poor performance.

For this, moving ahead strong foundation must be laid for the error-free manufacturing of Li-ion batteries. Since the various components making up the battery are highly hygroscopic in nature, it must be manufactured in a Dry Room with highly controlled environmental conditions. Considering the component affinity for moisture, the humidity must always be maintained at less than 1%.

Dry Room achieves these conditions with the help of the Environment Control Dehumidification System and maintains the relative humidity (RH) at less than 1% and 10% during lithium cell manufacturing and battery assemblage, respectively. It is well equipped with moisture control equipment for achieving extremely low dew points as low as -80 degrees Celsius required during the processing of hygroscopic and moisture-sensitive materials.

Manufacturing under uncontrolled temperature and humidity leads to the production of inconsistent batteries with substandard quality and performance. The inferior quality battery is responsible for decreased product life and can reduce the performance and efficiency of the electric vehicle. It can be a significant factor in the rejection of the vehicle from the market. And in the worst case, the poor-quality battery can explode, which raises serious safety concerns.

As a result, Dry Room with low dew point desiccant dehumidification must be installed to monitor and regulate the temperature and humidity throughout the battery manufacturing process. The patented Desiccant Dehumidification Technology, along with Bry-Air Dry Rooms, comes with advanced dehumidification/ moisture control solutions to maintain the RH within the narrow humidity bracket level. The Green DryPurge (GDP) series and the highly efficient Super Low Dew Point (LDP) series increase the energy efficiency of the Dry Rooms, which significantly brings down the substantial operating costs of the system.

For mass-scale electric vehicle penetration, it is the need of the hour to manufacture quality batteries. Manufacturers must incorporate a robust framework with advanced desiccant dehumidification technology to mitigate the potential threats in battery manufacturing.