Exide Industries and Leclanché will participate in a joint venture aimed at providing batteries and power storage solutions for India’s EV and power grid needs. The JV will pair Leclanché’s Li-ion expertise with Exide’s brand recognition and sales network.

Leclanché is a specialist in Li-ion battery production and battery management systems (BMS), while Exide is India’s largest producer of lead-acid batteries. The venture will construct a production plant in Gujarat, where module and battery pack assembly lines are expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2019. Leclanché will supply cells from its plant in Germany until mid-2020, when a new Li-ion cell plant is planned to be complete.

“Leclanché is the perfect partner for us in India,” says Exide CEO Gautam Chatterjee. “The company brings superior technology, modules and battery management systems, as well as immediate access to engineering resources to build market-ready products. This ideally complements our leading position in the lead-acid storage battery market in India and will allow us to take the lead in the lithium-ion battery industry, which is expected to grow significantly in the next few years.”

Leclanché CEO Anil Srivastava is also optimistic about the JV: “In a region that is expected to be one of the world’s largest and fastest growing markets for electric vehicles, the JV will provide Leclanché with giga-scale procurement volumes.”

Source: Leclanché via Green Car Congress