Tata's Agratas to Set Up In-House LFP Battery Pilot Line at ₹Sanand, Gujarat Plant; Invests Over $400 Million in Bengaluru R&D Centre
Agratas Energy Storage Solutions Pvt. Ltd., the battery manufacturing arm of Tata Group, is setting up a pilot production line for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells using in-house technology at its upcoming facility in Sanand, Gujarat. The pilot line will be used to refine manufacturing processes and validate the first batch of LFP cells before the company moves to commercial-scale production at the site.
A team of Indian, South Korean and Chinese engineers has been assembled to work on the pilot line, focused on process optimisation and cell validation ahead of full-scale manufacturing.
The move toward indigenous LFP technology follows a change in approach after Agratas concluded that a technology licensing arrangement with a Chinese firm was unlikely to materialise, given export restrictions imposed by Chinese authorities on critical battery manufacturing know-how. This is a departure from Agratas' approach to its nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cell line, where the company licensed established technology from Japan's Automotive Energy Supply Corporation, a unit of Envision Energy International Ltd., allowing it to bypass early-stage development for that chemistry.
The Sanand facility is planned to produce both LFP and NMC battery cells. Developing LFP cell technology in-house is expected to add to development costs and timelines compared with a licensed technology route.
Separately, Agratas is investing more than $400 million in a new research and development centre in Bengaluru, which will support work on LFP and related battery chemistries as part of the company's broader battery manufacturing programme in India.