Lithium has grow to be the default selection for battery-powered programs, however its limitations — from unstable provide chains to brief lifespans — have gotten more and more troublesome to disregard. Offgrid Energy Labs, a deep-tech startup primarily based in India, desires to make lithium much less central, particularly in the case of battery storage.
The seven-year-old startup, incubated at IIT Kanpur, has developed a proprietary zinc-bromine-based battery system as a substitute for lithium-ion expertise. Referred to as ZincGel, it delivers 80–90% of the power effectivity of typical lithium batteries, however at a considerably decrease levelized value of storage, the startup mentioned.
As energy demand grows worldwide, international locations are ramping up efforts to develop renewable power storage. India, as a outstanding nation on this regard, goals to extend its non-fossil power capability tenfold — from 50 gigawatts to 500 gigawatts — by 2030. New Delhi can also be targeting 236 gigawatt-hours of battery power storage capability by 2031–32 and introduced a ₹54 billion (roughly $612 million) funding planin June to develop 30 gigawatt-hour battery storage programs within the nation. Nevertheless, like many international markets, India faces a key problem: China’s dominance over the lithium provide chain.
Offgrid Vitality Labs is betting that its ZincGel battery expertise can ease provide constraints through the use of broadly out there supplies and providing a cheaper different to lithium-based programs.
Now, the startup has raised $15 million in Sequence A funding to scale up its operations. It plans to construct a 10-megawatt-hour demonstration facility within the UK, anticipated to be prepared by the primary quarter of 2026, and start commercializing ZincGel within the quarters that comply with — with a gigafactory in India deliberate as the following section.
“Not solely ought to we be addressing a niche out there from an utility standpoint, however we also needs to make it financially viable, as a result of there have been applied sciences and batteries prior to now globally, which have the answer, however they’re so costly that they’re not broadly adopted,” mentioned Tejas Kusurkar, co-founder and CEO of Offgrid Vitality Labs, in an interview.
Kusurkar, who has a Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur, co-founded Offgrid Vitality Labs in 2018 on the institute’s Startup Incubation and Innovation Middle, together with Brindan Tulachan (additionally a Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur), Rishi Srivastava, and Ankur Agarwal. The staff noticed that whereas lithium batteries are well-suited for mobility, the stationary storage market was underserved — and wanted batteries which might be safer, extra resilient, and constructed on a provide chain that’s simpler to entry, Kusurkar informed TechCrunch.
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The startup spent its first six years creating battery expertise and has thus far secured greater than 25 IP households and over 50 IP property throughout markets, together with the U.S., U.Ok., India, in addition to China, Australia, and Japan. The battery relies on zinc-bromide chemistry with a proprietary water-based electrolyte, leading to a low threat of fireplace.
ZincGel can also be able to dealing with longer discharges (6–12 hours) a number of occasions all through its lifetime and might final twice so long as a typical lithium-ion battery, Kusurkar mentioned. Moreover, the battery makes use of a carbon-based cathode for each quick charging and discharging.
Zinc in batteries will not be a brand new idea, and a few firms have already provided zinc-bromide-based batteries, together with the Nasdaq-listed EOS Energy Enterprises. Nevertheless, Kusurkar famous that Offgrid Vitality Labs makes use of its patented property that assist deliver down the fee. The ZincGel batteries can even cut back the necessity for utilizing graphite, which helps deliver down their manufacturing value.
“In the end, prospects care about the identical efficiency, higher value, or higher efficiency, identical value,” Srivastava informed TechCrunch.
Offgrid Vitality Labs’ expertise can also be designed to permit for tweaking or sub-optimizing the battery primarily based on the appliance. Which means that these zinc batteries can function independently of environmental circumstances and supply power storage even at temperatures as little as minus 10 levels Celsius, Srivastava mentioned.
The startup is concentrating on industries with net-zero targets that wish to maximize renewable power use by integrating battery storage. Its batteries are additionally being explored for purposes resembling peak shifting and decentralized, off-grid power options. Shell — which invested in Offgrid throughout its seed spherical by its company enterprise arm — and Tata Energy are among the many early testers. The beginning can also be in talks with international gamers, together with Europe’s Enel Group, to develop batteries tailor-made to their particular use circumstances.
Up to now, Offgrid Vitality Labs has constructed its battery tech manually at a tinkering lab in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida. Nevertheless, the startup plans to leverage its facility within the U.Ok. to reveal its expertise to early prospects subsequent 12 months.
The UK facility may have a carbon footprint 50% decrease than that of a typical lithium battery gigafactory, Srivastava mentioned, including that the startup has opted for less complicated manufacturing processes to cut back each capital and operational bills.
Requested why the U.Ok. — and never India — was chosen for its first facility, Srivastava mentioned, as Europe provides a robust ecosystem and is already a hub for battery manufacturing. The startup already has co-founders Kusurkar and Tulachan primarily based within the U.Ok. to assist with native operations. Nonetheless, the startup sees India as one in every of its key markets as soon as the batteries are prepared for commercialization in 2026.
The Sequence A spherical was led by Archean Chemical compounds, a Chennai-based specialty chemical substances producer, which now holds a 21% stake within the startup, together with participation from Ankur Capital.
Srivastava informed TechCrunch that Archean’s participation is a strategic alignment, because the publicly listed firm has appreciable experience in bromine manufacturing and provide chain administration.
The startup is valued at round $58 million post-money.
