Hyundai Motor and Kia announced a partnership with Exide Industries to source locally-made lithium-ion cells for EVs sold in India. The announcement came as global EV brands, such as VinFast and Tesla, seek to expand in the Indian market.
According to a corporate filing to the National Stock Exchange of India and Bombay Stock Exchange on August 8, Exide Energy Solutions Limited, the wholly-owned unlisted subsidiary of Exide Industries Limited, signed a non-binding MoU with Hyundai Motor and Kia for strategic cooperation in India's EV market. Under the MoU, both parties will work together to develop, produce, and supply battery cells for Hyundai Motor's EVs dedicated to the Indian market.
According to Hyundai's statement on the same day, Hyundai Motor and Kia are intensifying their EV initiatives for the Indian market by targeting the localization of battery production, with a particular emphasis on lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) cells. Heui Won Yang, president and head of Hyundai Motor and Kia's R&D division, said India is a key market for vehicle electrification, adding that Hyundai and Kia will gain a competitive advantage by equipping their future EVs with locally-produced batteries.
Exide Industries, a lead-acid battery provider in India, formed Exide Energy Solutions in 2022 to foray into lithium-ion cell, module, and pack manufacturing. Business Standard reported that Exide Industries set up a greenfield lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility, with a capacity of 6GWh in the first phase, and may begin commercial production by the end of fiscal 2025 (April 2024 to March 2025).
Hyundai announced that it would invest US$2.4 billion over ten years from 2023 in India and acquired General Motors' Indian facility to expand EV production in August 2023. In early April, Tarun Garg, COO of Hyundai India, told CNBC-TV18 that the company is scheduled to launch its first high-volume EV in early 2025 before more upcoming EV models in India, where EVs are expected to account for about 20% of the market by 2030.
Besides Hyundai and Kia, VinFast announced a plan to manufacture EVs in India and began constructing its facility in Tamil Nadu in February. Tesla is reportedly planning to send a team to scout land for an EV plant by the end of April.
