India’s Tata Group signed an outline deal on Friday on building a lithium-ion cell factory, based on investment of about 130 billion rupees ($1.58 billion).
Tata Motors dominates its electric vehicle (EV) sales, which made up just 1 percent of India’s total car sales of about 3.8 million last year.
A joint statement on the memorandum of understanding, between Tata’s unit Agratas Energy Storage Solutions and the government of the western state of Gujarat, said work on the plant, to be based in Sanand, northern Gujarat, was expected to start in less than three years.
It would have initial manufacturing capacity of 20 Gigawatt hours (GWh), which could be doubled in a second phase of expansion.