Following a year of development, the israeli Phinergy and the Indian car manufacturer Tata Motors, will present – at the upcoming Auto Expo Imdia – a prototype of the world-first aluminum-air battery powered vehicle. Tata Motors is a subsidiary of Tata Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. It produces a wide variety of vehicles, including sedans, trucks, Vans, buses, military vehicles, and logistic equipment. During 2021, Tata Motors manufactured almost one million vehicles, and its annual revenue totalled $45 billion.  

The prototype is based on the Tata Tiago electric model that Tata launched few months ago. In the new prototype, the conventional lithium batteries are replaced by Phinergy’s alternative batteries, in which the electrical energy that drive the engine is a product of reaction between aluminum, air, and water. These batteries are lighter, less polluted, are charged within few minutes and provide the greater driving range. Also, unlike lithium, aluminum is abundant in India, which makes this solution much more suitable for the Indian market. 

Tata Motors and Phinergy have not yet revealed what will be the new car’s range, but the  new batteries’ potential might be implied from another cooperation of Phinergy in the Indian market. Together with Mahindra Electric, Phinergy integrated its battery in an electric  three-wheeler (Rickshaw), which increased the driving range from 80 miles to 300 miles in a single charging.  

Alongside its cooperations with local manufacturers, Phinergy is preparing the required infrastructure to support the marketing of its air-aluminum batteries. Last year, the Israeli company founded a subsidiary with the local energy giant Indian Oil, which operates around 30,000 gas stations throughout India. These stations are intended to be used also for charging batteries.