The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) entered into a collaboration with the Israeli start-up company Phinergy to form IOC Phinergy Private Limited to manufacture Aluminum-Air systems in India to boost the “Make in India” programme and recycle used Aluminum to strengthen India’s energy security.

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In an aluminum air battery, aluminum is used as an(oxidation) anode, and air (the oxygen in the air) is used as(reduction) cathode to form a galvanic cell. This results in the energy density – i.e. energy produced per unit weight of the battery – very high compared to other conventional batteries.

In the process the aluminum is completely consumed to produce aluminum hydroxide. The Trihydroxide also has other industrial applications and is directly traded or sold in the market. There is no mechanical electric charging or replacement required for Aluminium batteries. “It is just the replacement of Aluminium metallic plate in the battery that exhausts over time.

The metal air battery has a very attractive energy density because part of the reactants come from the air. They have been developed for long range power supplies for electric vehicles. expected to offer much greater range of 400 km or more per battery compared to lithium-ion batteries which currently offer a range of 150-200 kilometres per full charge.

Aluminium is also an inexpensive metal which is the second most abundant metallic element after silicon, environmental friendliness, non toxic and high recyclable value and a smaller carbon footprint .              

Aluminium-air based batteries are also expected to be significantly cheaper than lithium-ion batteries, thereby reducing the cost of electric vehicle usage and boosting electric vehicle adoption in the country.

One of the key downsides of aluminium-air batteries is that they cannot be recharged like lithium-ion batteries. Therefore, large scale use of aluminium-air battery based vehicles would require the wide availability of battery swapping stations.