KEL and Toshiba Eyes Collaboration for Manufacturing Lithium-Ion Batteries

Kerala Electrical & Allied Engineering Co. Limited (KEL) has announced that it is in discussion with Toshiba to manufacture fast charging lithium ion (li-ion) batteries for electrical vehicles. The Toshiba team from Japan visited the Mamala unit of KEL.

“We are keen to collaborate with Toshiba to assemble li-ion batteries of different capacities for various types of electric vehicles, boats, etc. We have shown our facility to team and have also shown the vacant land available at the unit which is suitable for establishing electric battery assembling unit to the delegation.” said Shaji Varghese, MD of KEL

“Toshiba officials explained the specialities of their battery technology and pointed out that their batteries can be charged within 10 minutes, compared to 4 to 5 hours taken by conventional li-ion batteries. On conclusion of the discussions, both the teams expressed hope in joining hands for establishing a battery assembling Unit at KEL. Discussions on further course of actions and business model to be adopted will follow at the government level.” he added.

The five-member team from Toshiba headed by Yoshiki Ishizuka, head of battery division and Tomohiko Okada, MD, Toshiba India Pvt. Ltd., had detailed discussion with KEL team headed by chairman Varkala B Ravikumar and Shaji Varghese on various possibilities of business association between the two companies.