Ather Energy is in talks with partners to make electric vehicle battery cells in India. Though the company hasn’t participated in the central government’s Production Linked Incentive schemes (PLI)s, it’s searching for suitable partners to make the cells in India, as per The Telegraph.
Currently, the company imports battery cells from South Korea and China and assembles the battery packs at its Hosur plant. The battery plant has an annual capacity of 4.3 lakh units per annum.
“We know that we are better positioned to work with someone while manufacturing cells rather than doing it alone. There are a lot of challenges with it and we are cognisant of that.” said co-founder and chief technological officer Swapnil Joshi as he talked to the media on the sidelines of its plant inauguration event.
The company is looking for partners and will soon close the alliance, said the CTO.
When asked for a time frame as to when the manufacturer plans to begin manufacturing battery cells, Joshi answered, “We have no specific time frame, we are talking to all manufacturers, and everyone is looking at how the market grows.”
$128 million led by NIIF & Hero MotoCorp
On the other hand, the company has raised $128 million, led by National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), the Indian government’s sovereign wealth fund, and investor Hero MotoCorp.
The largest chunk of investment will go into investing in capacity – not just our own capacity but also that of the supply chain so that it can scale quickly,” says Ather Energy co-founder and CEO Tarun Mehta.
“Overall our components are fairly unique, so we have to make sure that our suppliers can invest for us. So a fair bit of capacity will go towards that.”
Mehta didn’t disclose Ather’s valuation. However, he said the company has yet to reach $1 billion in value. Its competitor Ola Electric is valued at over $5 billion.
About Ather Energy
Ather Energy is a manufacturer of electric scooters and an EV charging network called AtherGrid. It focuses on building a complete ecosystem for India’s EVs, powered by indigenous design and all locally manufactured.
