Amara Raja is actively exploring a new partnership to enhance its capabilities in lithium-ion cell manufacturing with a focus on areas such as cell technology, supply chain, and manufacturing know-how, with its large-scale, giga factory coming up.

“We are in the advancement stage of discussion with various players for a more comprehensive cell partnership, looking at technology, manufacturing know-how, and supply chain,” Amara Raja’s Executive Director for New Energy Business Vikramadithya Gourineni told investors in a post-earnings call recently.

Amara Raja is setting up a giga factory for manufacturing lithium-ion cells and battery packs in Telangana that will have a capacity of 16 GWh cell capacity and 5 GWh battery pack capacity over the next 10 years. The company plans to start commercial operations of the first phase of the factory with a capacity of 2 GWh by the end of 2025-26.

The battery maker already tied up with a Chinese company and has jointly developed a Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC)--based 2170 cylindrical cell. The giga factory will initially start commercial production with NMC cells, while it will consider other cell chemistries such as Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) down the line. These NMC cells will be mainly for the two-wheeler market.