India needs to move away from lithium-ion battery tech for EVs: V K Singh

India needs to get out of lithium-ion battery technology for electric vehicles at the earliest, as the country has no control over the commodity, union minister V K Singh said on Wednesday.

In future, the country could also graduate to hydrogen fuel cells in its journey of green mobility and players in the sector need to work simultaneously on these technologies from now onwards, the minister of state for road transport and highways, Singh said here at the inauguration of EV India 2022, an electric vehicle motor show.

There is a lot of work happening in the battery segment in India on how to reduce dependency on lithium-ion batteries, he said.

Different researches are going on regarding the usage of sodium-ion and zinc-ion "because we would like to get away from lithium-ion", he added.

India neither produces lithium nor does it have control over it and the country has to import it, the minister said.

"There is a problem where lithium is concerned and the earlier we get out of it, the better it is," Singh asserted.

At present, the majority of electric vehicles sold in India use lithium-ion battery technology although some electric rickshaws are still powered by lead-acid batteries.

The minister said India is also working heavily on hydrogen cell technology, which has a lot of potential.

"We are at par with what is happening in Japan (in hydrogen fuel cell)," he said, adding India's biggest advantage is that the cost is the lowest as far as green hydrogen is concerned because of low solar energy cost.

"In future, probably we are going to graduate from electric to hydrogen," Singh said.

He said industry players in the green mobility sector need to work simultaneously on the new technologies.

"People who are working in this field, you have to make a decision as to what you want to do because this cannot be sequential," he said, adding the approach cannot be EV first followed by hydrogen fuel cell technology.

Singh expressed confidence that EVs penetration in India will grow multifold as it has a lot of potential but companies also need to address consumers' concerns about range anxiety and charging infrastructure to further accelerate its growth.

The second edition of EV India 2022 is being organised by Indian Exhibition Services and Green Society of India, along with Society Of Manufacturers Of Electric Vehicles.