e-Trnl Energy: Cells that keep their cool

At e-Trnl Energy, Apoorv Shaligram and Uttam Sen are building a tech that will achieve superior economics for cell manufacturing and allow them to create fast charging battery packs with lower levels of heating and longer lives

By Harichandan Arakali Forbes India Staff

Published: Feb 21, 2023 11:45:28 AM IST

Updated: Feb 21, 2023 12:45:10 PM IST

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Apoorv Shaligram (left) and Uttam Sen, co-founders, e-Trnl Energy Image: Nishant Ratnakar for Forbes India

Apoorv Shaligram and Uttam Sen started e-Trnl Energy in 2021 when they saw an opportunity to tackle some of the fundamental problems with electric vehicle (EV) battery cells today, such as heating, charging time, and the life of the cells and batteries.

“We’ve come up with this tech where the capex and the operational costs go down, the energy costs go down in manufacturing the cells,” says Shaligram. The capex could go down by as much as a fifth compared with what it takes to make cells today, he claims.

As a result, on the one hand, they expect to achieve superior economics for cell manufacturing with more robust and reliable processes, and on the other, produce cells in large numbers that can be put together as battery packs offering 15-minute charging times, significantly lower levels of heating, and which will last longer than the cells and batteries available today.

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India needs ventures like this to succeed because global demand for EV batteries is expected to skyrocket in the coming decade or two. Being dependent on imports for some of the critical raw materials, like lithium, India will have to do everything in its power to make its own cells and batteries as cheaply and reliably as possible.

With $911,000 in funding from investors, including Speciale Invest, CIIE and Micelio Mobility, Shaligram and Sen are currently setting up a research and development centre in Bengaluru. They expect to turn out a close-to-commercial product in about a year.