The battery safety and quality regulations should be made stricter by the government, said Trontek founder and chief executive officer Samrath Kochar, even as he maintained that customers also need to be made aware about battery maintenance.
On March 26, two electric scooters — one in Pune, Maharashtra, and the other in Vellore, Tamil Nadu — caught fire. Both were powered by lithium-ion batteries.
“In a VRLA (valve regulated lead–acid) battery, if anything happens, it won’t have such a big fire impact. It only happens in a lithium-ion battery as cobalt used in it is a highly flammable item,” Kochar told FE. Lithium, cobalt and nickel are among the critical raw materials used in manufacturing lithium-ion batteries.
Trontek is claimed to be India’s largest manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for electric two-wheelers and electric three-wheelers, with a combined market share of around 30%.
The company has a couple of manufacturing facilities, located in Sonipat, Haryana, and New Delhi. At present, it produces between 15,000 to 17,000 lithium-ion batteries for electric two-wheelers and 1,500 to 2,000 units for electric three-wheelers every month, with their capacity ranging from 2 kWh to 10 kWh.
Benling India, Komaki, Jitendra New EV Tech and BGauss are some of the electric vehicle manufacturers that source lithium-ion batteries, which have localisation levels of up to 30%, from Trontek.
“We import cells and bms (battery management system) components from China. The enclosure, nickel strips, holders, connectors, top covers and wires are localised. I would say close to 25-30% of material in our batteries is localised. Cell is the most important and expensive part in a battery, which takes almost 60% of the entire cost,” said Kochar.
“We are facing issues with the pricing of raw materials. Maximum nickel is produced in Russia. And, China is facing challenges in sourcing raw materials,” he added.
Kochar said that lithium prices were already high prior to the Russia-Ukraine factor.
“46% of the lithium cell raw material is cathode that is made of electrolytic cobalt. It was priced at RMB 531,000/ton on February 15, 2022, which is 107.66% higher when compared with price in April 2020, and 66.34% higher when compared to January 2021 price. The price of lithium hydroxide was recorded at RMB 415,000/ton on February 15, 2022, and as of today, it stands at RMB 491,500/ton,” he explained.
According to Kochar, some companies are compromising on the quality of the raw materials as their prices have gone up.
“The prices of lithium-ion have increased rapidly. So some companies are compromising on the quality of the raw materials. There is AIS-156 regulation from the government. But some small companies bypass that and sell the batteries without approval, and in that case, the safety is compromised,” Kochar said. However, he did not name any such company.
“The government should make the regulations more strict on the safety and quality of the batteries,” he noted.
Trontek’s lithium-ion batteries are claimed to be tested by government agencies like ARAI and ICAT. They are also AIS-156 certified, which is among the most stringent regulations in the world for battery testing.
“Customers also need to be made aware about battery maintenance. They need to keep the battery away from water. If the battery is behaving abnormally, they should just report to the dealer or OEM. The battery would behave abnormally before any thermal runaway,” Kochar observed.
