Mumbai: Reliance Industries has officially announced that its plans to manufacture lithium-ion battery cell storage in India remain unchanged and are progressing in line with target timelines, in response to reports in a section of the media that the company has backtracked from plans announced earlier after it failed to secure Chinese technology.
The Mukesh Ambani-led group, which planned to begin cell manufacturing in 2026, was in discussions with Chinese firm Xiamen Hithium Energy Storage Technology to license battery cell technology, but a recent report had claimed that theese plans were put on hold after the talks failed.
The report had suggested that negotiations came to a standstill after Xiamen withdrew from the proposed partnership in response to China’s restrictions on knowledge transfers abroad in important areas.
However, it has now emerged that Reliance is in a position to draw upon the expertise of its US subsidiary Lithium Werks, which is well versed in LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) batteries, as well as its UK subsidiary Faradion, to manufacture higher-performance lithium-ion automotive batteries.
“We would like to categorically affirm that there has been no change in our plans for creating a world-leading battery storage manufacturing ecosystem from cell to containerised ESS, and they are progressing well in line with our target timelines,” according to a statement issued by a company spokesperson.
Previously, Reliance had indicated 2026 as the target when it would begin manufacturing battery cells in India. Reliance Industries Chairman & Managing Director Mukesh Ambani told shareholders in August last year that Reliance’s battery giga factory would start in 2026, beginning with a 40 GWh per year capacity and then expanding it to 100 GWh per year.
“You will note that BESS manufacturing, battery pack manufacturing and cell manufacturing have always been part of our energy storage plans, and we are progressing well in their execution, as already shared earlier,” according to the Reliance spokesperson.
Reliance has committed Rs 75,000 crore to establish an integrated manufacturing ecosystem for the solar value chain, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and electrolysers at Jamnagar, Gujarat at its Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Manufacturing Complex. The facility is what Reliance says is the world’s largest, most modern, modular and integrated manufacturing ecosystem at a single site.