Exide aiming to cut dependence on lead with new tech

India's largest automotive battery maker Exide Industries Ltd today said it is planning to reduce dependence on lead -- a key component of lead-acid batteries that it makes -- by developing new technology with a US-based partner.

The company claims that Lead suffers from erratic price movement which prompted it to go for developing the new 'bipolar based battery technology' in association with a US-based company.

Bipolar battery technology makes lead-acid batteries lighter, more cost-efficient and consume less lead, it said.

"We are currently developing bipolar lead acid storage battery and have a technical tie up with US-based Adavanced Battery Concept. This will be a disruptive technology," Exide Managing Director Gautam Chatterjee said after the company's annual general meeting here.

Currently, 40 per cent of the cost of manufacturing lead-acid batteries go into lead. With the successful rollout of the new tech, expected to take over a year, lead consumption would reduce to 30 per cent, he said.

"A 10 per cent reduction in lead cost will bring a huge cost advantage," Chatterjee said.

He said Exide would decide on a later stage the uses of the bipolar lead-acid batteries. If they are meant for e-rickshaws, Exide will set up a plant at West Bengal's Haldia to manufacture it,
Speaking about the company's entry into lithium ion batteries via a joint venture with a Swiss company, he said Exide will make use of the Tudor facility in Gujarat,