COEP Technological University and JSW Projects have joined hands to establish a major battery research and development centre at COEP Tech’s Chikhali Research Park in Pune.
The project involves an investment of more than Rs 800 crore and is being developed as a two-phase facility focused on building indigenous battery technology in India.
India’s First Indigenous Battery Prototyping Centre
The proposed facility is being positioned as India’s first indigenous battery prototyping and pilot-scale research and development centre on an academic campus.
The centre will focus on lithium-ion batteries as well as sodium-ion and other advanced battery chemistries.
The partnership is designed to bring together COEP’s faculty and students with engineers from JSW to work on battery-cell design, development, testing and validation.
Rs 800 Crore Investment In Two Phases
The project will be developed in two phases.
The first phase will establish a Cell Research and Development Centre. Researchers will work on battery-cell design, simulation and prototyping, with a focus on developing technologies suited to Indian requirements.
The second phase will create a Cell Validation Centre capable of producing battery cells ranging from 100 Ah to 600 Ah.
This will allow technologies developed during research and prototyping to move closer to pilot-scale industrial applications.
Focus On Lithium-Ion And Sodium-Ion Batteries
Lithium-ion technology will be a major focus of the centre, while researchers will also work on sodium-ion and other advanced battery chemistries.
The batteries developed through the programme are expected to have applications across electric vehicles, grid-scale energy storage and clean-energy systems.
A key objective will be to develop battery cells that can perform effectively under Indian climatic conditions and suit the country’s specific energy and mobility requirements.
More Than 1,000 Jobs Expected
The project could also create a wider battery technology ecosystem around Pune.
According to the partners, the initiative has the potential to catalyse more than 1,000 jobs across research, engineering, manufacturing and allied areas.
Students and faculty members will get opportunities to work directly with industry engineers on commercially relevant battery technologies, potentially providing practical exposure to an industry that is expanding rapidly.
From Research To Commercial Technology
The partnership will also cover joint research, academic projects, publications and intellectual property development.
The larger objective is to reduce the gap between laboratory research and industrial deployment by creating facilities where battery technologies can be designed, prototyped and validated in the same ecosystem.
The initiative comes as India seeks to build domestic capabilities across the battery value chain, particularly for electric mobility, renewable energy and energy storage.
Pune Could Become A Battery Technology Hub
With an investment of more than Rs 800 crore, the Chikhali facility could add a significant new research capability to Pune’s automotive and engineering ecosystem.
The project also strengthens the connection between academic research and industrial development, giving COEP students and researchers access to large-scale battery technology projects.
If successfully developed, the centre could become an important platform for indigenous battery research and pilot-scale development in India.
Summary
COEP Technological University and JSW Projects will invest more than Rs 800 crore to establish an indigenous battery research and development centre at COEP Tech’s Chikhali Research Park in Pune. The two-phase facility will focus on lithium-ion, sodium-ion and other advanced battery technologies, with cell validation capabilities of 100 Ah to 600 Ah and more than 1,000 battery ecosystem jobs expected.
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