AR4 Tech, a start-up in Coimbatore, has partnered Sodion Energy of Singapore to make sodium ion battery packs for domestic and export markets.
P. Bala, co-founder and CEO of Sodion Energy, told the media here on Thursday that AR4 Tech will commission a 15,000 sq. ft factory in Coimbatore in the next four months to make the battery packs.
The sodium-ion batteries developed by Sodion will be made into battery packs here. The semi-automatic plant with imported equipment will have the capacity to make almost 100 packs a day. Sodion Energy is a shareholder in AR4 Tech, he added.
AR4 Tech will use the battery packs to convert existing petroleum vehicles (mainly two wheelers) into electric vehicles. The life cycle of a battery is expected to be almost 10 years. These battery packs can also go in to uninterrupted power supply systems.
According to Mr. Bala, there are no quality or safety standards yet in India for sodium ion battery packs. It is an emerging sector that requires a “favourable regulatory environment,” he said.
