Mumbai-based Epsilon Carbon has announced that it has commissioned country’s first manufacturing facility in Karnataka to produce graphite anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LiB).
Epsilon Carbon plans to invest Rs 500 crore over the next five years in the facility that would produce 5,000 tonnes of anode material annually.
The firm added that it plans to triple this capacity to 15,000 tonnes in 2021 and to 50,000 tonnes per annum by 2025.
Graphite anodes comprise 25 per cent volume in LiB cells and are the highest single material component in a cell’s chemistry. Till now, China supplies more than 80 per cent of the global demand for graphite anodes, said the company in a statement.
Vikram Handa, managing director of Epsilon Carbon said “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the importance of a self-reliant nation. As India pushes an aggressive electric vehicle policy… our manufacturing leadership in graphite anodes will make India self-sufficient for a key raw material for LiB cells.”
The firm noted that the battery materials business would be housed under a new subsidiary, Epsilon Advanced Materials, which will become the preferred supplier of synthetic graphite material to cell manufacturers and energy storage device companies across the globe.
The company has also set-up a target-oriented research and development laboratory to improve the quality of the material further.
Epsilon Carbon operates India’s first integrated carbon complex with a backward integration from raw coal tar to the finished product.