Godi Energy, a Hyderabad-based energy technology company, has raised funds from Blue Ashva Capital through its Blue Ashva Sampada Fund and plans to set up a supercapacitor and lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility in India.
Founded by Mahesh Godi, who spent close to a decade in Silicon Valley, the company aims to commercially manufacture advanced lithium-ion cells and supercapacitors.
“As India moves towards carbon neutrality and mass adoption of electric vehicles, we have aspirations to lead the charge in this energy revolution and this investment from Blue Ashva Capital is a major step in this direction,” Mahesh Godi, Founder and CEO of Godi Energy, said in a statement.
“A number of EV start-ups have either launched their own vehicles or built a service layer on top. However, the key challenge remains the lack of control at the cell level. We are encouraged to see the work Godi Energy is doing on indigenous technology innovation in the battery cell technology space,” Satya Bansal, Founder, Blue Ashva Capital, said.
Growing demand
In 2021, the demand for lithium-ion cells in India stands at 10 GWh. This demand is expected to reach 800 GWh by 2030. To keep up with this demand, battery packs and EV OEMs are currently importing cells from various countries. These cells have several issues related to performance, safety and cost.
To maintain a competitive price per cell, many battery packs and EV OEMs import low-grade cells that do not perform efficiently in Indian climatic and driving conditions. It has been challenging to manufacture cells in India due to the lack of technical know-how and raw material supply chain.