Epsilon Advanced Materials (EAM), a leading provider of battery material solutions worldwide, is in search of suitable land in India to establish its cathode plant, which is estimated to require an investment of Rs 5,000 crore. Among the potential locations under consideration are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. The company aims to commence commercial production at the facility by next year. This initiative follows EAM's recent acquisition of a technology center specializing in lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) cathode active materials in Germany in January.

“We did an acquisition early this year for our cathode business, which requires lithium. We are engaging with states such as Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Odisha for setting up the cathode plant. We look at these five states as industrialization is happening at a rapid pace, and a lot of our customers are also present there and hope to declare our project in the next six months”, Vikram Handa, MD, EAM, said.

Noting that it would take about a year to build the plant, he said, “In 2026, we can be in commercial production. We are quite bullish that the way lithium-ion technology is developing, and the demand for anode and cathode in the next decade both in India and globally, we would like to capture that market and commercialize by 2026”. EAM, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Epsilon Carbon, is investing $1.1 billion in Karnataka.

The manufacturing plant located in Bellary, Karnataka, is projected to produce 100,000 tons per annum of synthetic graphite anode material by the year 2030. Additionally, EAM operates graphite anode facilities in the US and Finland as part of its global operations. Distinguished as one of the few companies globally involved in both the anode and cathode segments, EAM, according to Handa, is well-positioned to meet a substantial portion of India's demand for both anode and cathode materials.

“By 2030, our graphite anode material business with 2,00,000 tons per annum capacity can cater to 100 GW with a topline of about Rs 20,000 crore. Our cathode material business with 1,00,000 tons per annum capacity will cater to 50 GW of cell capacity and it will be close to Rs 10,000 crore of topline by then (2030)”, he added.