Energetica India Magazine May-June 2021

Shed some light on Nexcharge’s R&D and manufacturing facility in India. Do you have some export plans as well in near future from this facility? S tefan L ouis : Our R&D facility in Banga- lore has a headcount of around 50 peo - ple, and it is growing as we’re actively recruiting dozens of talents. Additionally, from a global point of view, our manu - facturing facility is truly state-of-the-art, highly automated with around 30 robots. We have about six production lines that can handle cells of any form including cylindrical, prismatic, and pouch. We do plan to export as well in the near future as we are in the process of setting up our third business unit for internation- al business. While our initial focus was on the domestic business that is going really well, however, we also have good traction in the global market, starting from San Francisco to Shanghai. Kindly tell Energetica India readers about the specialty of Nexcharge storage solutions. Will these storage solutions be customized as per the customer’s specific requirements? S tefan L ouis : Nexcharge is backed by Exide, which is the largest battery man- ufacturer in India, and that describes a energetica INDIA- May-June_2021 17 INTERVIEW “We have about six production lines that can handle cells of any form includ- ing cylindrical, prismatic, and pouch.” lot about the positioning of our company. We are targeting high-quality products and have all the certifications in place including the automotive fund which is in the pipeline. Additionally, we manu - facture at scale, which is important for the battery industry. Currently, our pro - duction capacity is more than 1.5 GWh, which is fairly unique in India. Unlike in the lead-acid battery industry, most of our products are standardized. Lith - ium-ion batteries are specifically de - signed for every vehicle, whether it is a two-wheeler or a passenger vehicle. In the industrial market space, we are also making batteries for UPS which are custom designed to meet our custom- er requirement and that’s why we have a fairly large R&D team with a relatively young organization to meet the specific requirements of our customers. Shed some light on your target mar- kets? S tefan L ouis : Our target markets are quite broad in the transportation industry that includes Two-wheeler, Three-wheel- er, Four-wheeler, Commercial Vehicles, Bus and also off-highway equipment such as tractors or Earthmoving equip - ment. From a stationary point of view, markets are more diverse. We cater to Telecom, UPS, Microgrids, grid storage, Hybrid application such as solar PV, and street lighting among others. Are there any specific challenges/ dif - ference you find while working in the Indian market, as compared to other markets? S tefan L ouis : India is a unique market with specific requirements. The compo - sition of the Indian fleet is much different than others. We have more two-wheel - ers and three-wheelers in India as com- pared to other countries. The tropical cli - mate and the road quality certainly have an impact on the shock, vibration, and ruggedness of the vehicle. Furthermore, the market is cost-sensitive in India. We had to keep all the criteria in mind be - fore developing the product. I believe once you develop and market a product in India, you can develop and market a product anywhere in the world because India is a market that demands the high- est quality at the lowest price, which is a challenge. Up to what extent government poli- cies like the PLI scheme, RTC renew- able tenders, etc are beneficial for Lithium-Ion battery manufacturers like Nexcharge? S tefan L ouis : We believe the government is extending its support by paying suf - ficient attention to the entire lithium-ion battery industry with various schemes and standards including the PLI scheme which they’ve listed this year. Apart from stimulating electric buses, which is, of course, public transport and therefore a responsibility of the government, they are also having other demand generat- ing incentives for two wheelers and pas - senger vehicles. Hence, they’re support - ing both the consumption as well as the production, which I think is great. While there are some limitations since the re- sources are expensive, however, the PLI scheme makes a significant difference for people that want to get into battery manufacturing. Since, it is very expen - sive to get into battery manufacturing, especially if you start thinking about cell manufacturing, but with schemes such as PLI, it becomes achievable. What will be your key suggestions to the policymakers to boost battery storage in the manufacturing industry in India? S tefan L ouis : I was pleasantly surprised to see the level of interaction that policy - makers have with the industry. The expe - rience was very positive. In fact, we’ve had several opportunities to share our suggestions with the policymakers, and