Indian Oil has signed a strategic agreement with Japan's Panasonic Energy to explore opportunities for manufacturing lithium-ion battery cells in India.
“With a vision to drive 'Make in India' globally, the joint venture has ambitious plans to set up a factory with a production capacity of 1GWh by 2027 and scale up to 5GWh by 2031,” chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said in the company's FY24 annual report. “The partnership aims to position India as a global hub for advanced battery technologies and support the country's transition towards sustainable energy and transportation solutions.”
IndianOil is also focusing on setting up more battery-swap facilities and electric vehicle charging centers, leveraging its extensive network of fuel retailers.
“We are betting big on the promising avenues of battery swapping solutions, especially in the two-wheeler and three-wheeler sector, with plans to extend this to heavy vehicle applications,” Vaidya said. “This approach is expected to be a game changer for the sector.” IndianOil aims to build 31GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, mainly through solar and wind projects, according to Vaidya.
But the company expects domestic oil demand to grow over the next decade and will continue to expand its key fossil fuel operations, adding 17 million tonnes of annual capacity through refinery expansions at Barauni (from 6 million tonnes to 9 million tonnes), Panipat (from 15 million tonnes to 25 million tonnes) and Vadodara (from 13.7 million tonnes to 18 million tonnes).
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