What is next for batteries? Through prismatic, chemistry-agnostic cells, Priyadarshi Panda of International Battery Company (IBC) tells Nidhi Agarwal of EFY how faster charging, higher energy, and safer performance can scale EVs and storage.
Q. How long has the company been operating globally, and what has been your timeline in India?
A. We are an international lithium-ion battery technology company headquartered in the US, with operations in South Korea and India. The US entity was incorporated in late 2022, making the company about three years old globally. Product development activities in the US began, and site selection for our fully operational pilot facility in Korea began around September 2022. The Indian subsidiary, IBC India Private Limited, was incorporated in early 2023, approximately four to five months after the US entity was established. As a result, our formal presence in India is approaching close to three years again. From the outset, India was conceived as a core part of our global strategy rather than a later market entry.
Q. What led to the founding of the company, and why India?
A. My decision to start this company was shaped by my background in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, doctoral research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on nanomaterials, and over a decade of experience in semiconductor manufacturing and integration at companies such as Intel, Lam Research, and Applied Materials. While working in Silicon Valley, I witnessed firsthand the rapid rise of electric mobility and energy storage and recognised it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where semiconductor-style precision manufacturing principles were missing. I transitioned into the battery space in 2020 and realised the industry was rushing to build factories without first designing validated, customer-driven products. India emerged as a natural focus because it was rapidly adopting electric mobility and energy transition at scale, yet lacked deep product-level and manufacturing intellectual property (IP) in batteries. With my roots in India and experience in mature high-precision industries, the goal was to bridge this product and knowledge gap through an open IP-led company, making India the first strategic penetration market through the sharing of non-Chinese IP with companies wanting to build large-scale manufacturing facilities called giga factories in India, as well as globally.
Q. Was it more challenging to build the company in India compared to the US, and what is the story behind the company name?
A. Both US and India offer very different ecosystems for deep technology companies. The US is far more conducive to moonshot, physics-based innovation, with strong acceptance, funding, and partnerships for companies that build core IP, which is why IBC is today the only Indian company with proven in-house battery product IP and a continuous innovation roadmap drawing from the innovation ecosystem and DNA of the silicon valley in the USA. India’s strength lies in large-scale adoption and volume-driven markets, making it ideal for deployment and manufacturing, even though support for deep tech startups is still evolving. The name International Battery Company was inspired by IBM, reflecting a grounded, function-driven identity rather than a decorative brand. Our intent was to build a truly global battery company, with core IP, materials, and process innovation and simulation in the US; product validation through scaled manufacturing processes and products in South Korea; and high-volume manufacturing and deployment, first in India and subsequently scaling globally over time.
Q. How many co-founders does IBC have, and who are your founding team members?
A. I am the sole founder of IBC, supported by a strong founding executive team. Sasi Kupanagari brings expertise in data systems and business management from Intel and IBM. Ramesh Singh has 30+ years in Silicon Valley leading strategic partnerships and exits as the Executive Chairman of our Board. Josh Preissle oversees factory design for Tesla and Rivian, with experience in Li-ion cell manufacturing facilities and equipment. Kunal Jain drives product and device innovation, with 25 years of experience in fuel cells, simulations, semiconductors, and battery materials, including roles at AMAT and Sila Nanotechnologies. Together, they form the core team executing IBC’s deep tech vision.
Q. Can you describe your role in the energy transition and battery ecosystem?
A. In India, we have a joint venture with Mahanagar Gas Limited. Our focus is on enabling the global energy transition driven by renewable energy, both through electric mobility and stationary storage. The renewable energy transition is fundamentally built on lithium-ion cell manufacturing and innovation. We work across three core areas: battery material innovation, device and electrochemistry design at the jelly-roll level, and integration into finished-cell form factors. Each application, from electric two-wheelers and electric cars to grid storage, data centres, defence, and electric aviation, requires distinct performance specifications and cell architectures. We primarily manufacture prismatic lithium-ion cells, which account for nearly seventy to seventy-five per cent of global deployments. Supporting this, we also develop proprietary factory and equipment designs to maintain leadership in technology, manufacturing, and intellectual property. Our device technology can be dropped into existing giga factories being built in India and globally, enabling technology leadership to incumbent and newly built gigafactories.
Q. Who are your primary target customers and application segments?
A. We operate across two major customer verticals: electric mobility and stationary energy storage. In electric mobility, we support a wide spectrum ranging from two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger vehicles, tractors, golf carts, and buses to high-power applications such as electric aviation and defence in challenging terrains. The second vertical is stationary storage, which includes multiple sub-segments with distinct requirements. These range from AI data centres and industrial commercial energy storage to telecom backup systems and residential UPS solutions. We also address grid-scale solar storage, where lithium-ion cells are used to store energy generated from solar installations for later use. We also provide battery-critical materials to existing gigafactory incumbents to de-risk the critical minerals supply chain from China.
Q. Where does the core innovation in your battery technology actually reside?
A. Innovation for us lies at two critical levels. The first is chemistry and material science, where we work on selecting and optimising cathode, anode, electrolyte and separator materials. The second and more complex layer is device and electrochemistry, which involves converting these materials into functional components such as electrodes, defining their characteristics, pairing them with the right separator, and integrating them with a suitable lithium-based electrolyte. We operate across molecules, materials, and the full jelly roll level to create devices tailored to specific end-use requirements. Device technology is the hardest part of battery innovation., It is commercially manufacturable, and in India, we are the only company with validated proprietary device IP deployed in working products in the field. This positions us as a disruptive player globally, outside the traditional East Asian battery hubs of China, Korea, and Japan.
Q. What kinds of material innovations are you deploying at the anode and cathode levels?
A. For high-power mobility applications such as defence, electric aviation, and other fast-discharge use cases, traditional graphite anodes are insufficient. On the anode side, we engineer optimised blends of silicon, carbon and graphite, tuning the molecular structure to increase specific capacity and control lithium mobility during high discharge. This material level optimisation directly enables the electrochemical and device behaviour required for extreme operating conditions. On the cathode side, for long-range mobility applications, we focus on high-energy density designs using high-nickel-based cathode materials. We innovate on stabilising these high-nickel chemistries to safely pack more energy into the electrode, enabling significant range improvements, such as doubling vehicle driving distance. For economical solutions, we focus on next-gen LFP cathode materials and high-manganese variants of cathodes to truly pioneer the fundamental space through device innovation and AI-based models, uncovering experimentally inaccessibleregimes of the phase space.
Q. How does integrating a silicon graphite anode enhance cell performance, and what failure modes can arise?
A. Integrating a silicon graphite anode increases energy density, boosting range by up to 50 per cent without changing battery pack size. It also improves the C rate, enabling very fast charging and high continuous discharge for applications requiring rapid acceleration or heavy loads, such as defence vehicles in challenging conditions, AI data centres, or electric aviation. Key failure modes, such as volume expansion and stress-induced degradation, are mitigated through careful electrode design, optimised solid-electrolyte interface (SEI), and balanced silicon content, ensuring both performance and long-term reliability.
Q. How does a chemistry-agnostic cell design impact electrode thickness, current collectors and form factor standardisation?
A. A chemistry agnostic design allows the same cell form factor and manufacturing line to accommodate multiple chemistries without altering the battery pack architecture. While solution behaviour varies by chemistry, the platform remains standardised, enabling unified learning across products. This approach supports platform-based battery-pack manufacturing and allows a single architecture to serve multiple market segments, from high-end cars to two and three-wheelers. It also simplifies scaling and customisation, providing flexibility for diverse mobility and storage applications. This principle underlies approaches such as General Motors’ Ultium platform in the US, which accommodates both cylindrical and prismatic cells.
Q. What were the key design challenges in developing scalable battery products, and how did you address them?
A. The primary challenge was designing products not as a research and development (R&D) exercise but for large-scale commercial manufacturing. Our guiding principle was design for high-volume, high-speed manufacturing, where throughput is high, unit-to-unit variation is minimal, and yields exceed 90 per cent, which we now achieve at around 94 to 95 per cent. This required careful trade-off decisions between performance metrics such as energy density and manufacturing stability or repeatability. We prioritised non-negotiable customer pain points through detailed voice-of-customer analysis and scorecard-based decision-making, while consciously accepting trade-offs on less critical parameters. These decisions were validated through extensive simulations, AI-driven design of experiments, and focused physical testing, enabling us to deliver high-quality products that scale reliably in production.
Q. How did cell design requirements differ between electric mobility and stationary storage applications?
A. We standardised early on a prismatic form factor, while remaining molecule agnostic and driving customisation through molecular and device-level optimisation. For mobility applications, the focus is on high power and energy density using high-nickel NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) and NCA (nickel cobalt aluminium) cathode chemistries, which are highly moisture-sensitive and require dry-room manufacturing, paired with graphite-blended silicon-based anodes for higher specific capacity. In contrast, stationary storage prioritises long cycle life over energy density, as grid projects operate for twenty to twenty-five years. Here, we use lithium iron phosphate cathodes with larger particle sizes and cost-optimised graphite anodes to meet lower price points. Across both verticals, a key design principle has been building a supply chain independent of China, increasingly localised within India, which directly influences our molecular and material choices. This conscious effort towards a FEOC (Foreign Entity of Concern)- compliant supply chain puts IBC on a differentiated growth trajectory, reducing risk amid the geopolitical uncertainties of the modern world.
Q. What trade-offs are involved when choosing prismatic cells over cylindrical or pouch formats for EV applications?
A. We choose prismatic cells as our building block unit. The cells offer a larger form factor and higher energy per cell, significantly reducing the total number of cells required in an electric vehicle (EV) battery pack. Pouch cells are generally avoided in mobility applications due to their weak external structure, whereas prismatic and cylindrical cells provide rigid metal casings suitable for moving systems. Compared to cylindrical cells, prismatic cells simplify pack assembly, improve repeatability in automated integration, and enable better diagnostics since far fewer cells need to be monitored. This improves safety, failure prevention, and AI-driven battery behaviour analysis in the field. As seen in China, the largest EV market, and in Tesla’s Shanghai operations, prismatic cells become the preferred choice wherever strong technical capability and physics-based product understanding exist.
Q. How do prismatic cells manage swelling, gas generation and maintain mechanical stability over charge cycles?
A. Prismatic cells experience swelling and gas generation due to graphite expansion and chemical reactions during repeated charge-discharge cycles. The first step to manage this is during production itself, through our IPed pre-charge and degas steps, where the major chemical reactions that form the solid-electrolyte interface (SEI) occur, and the gas generated is sucked out of the cell before sealing. To manage the chemical reactions and gas generation during cell use, which is minimal, we apply controlled compression using compression plates, informed by the cell’s behavioural characteristics, during testing using specialised prismatic cell jigs. When deployed in battery packs, compression plates maintain mechanical stability while allowing safe operation over long cycles. This approach ensures durability, minimises stress on the casing and preserves consistent performance across two, three and four-wheeler applications.
Q. What factors determine the internal resistance of a high-energy-density NMC prismatic cell?
A. The total internal resistance of a prismatic cell has two components: intrinsic internal resistance and contact resistance. Internal resistance is governed by lithium mobility in the electrodes, electrode porosity and tortuosity, and lithium mobility in the electrolyte. Contact resistance arises from the electrical connection between the jelly roll and cell terminals. Unlike cylindrical cells that use nickel tabs for welding, prismatic cells employ a tab-less design, welding aluminium and copper directly to the terminals, which reduces contact resistance. This design lowers both alternating current internal resistance (ACIR) and direct current internal resistance (DCIR), giving prismatic cells an intrinsic advantage over standard high-nickel cylindrical cells like LG 2170 5 amp-hour cells.
Q. With NMC chemistry offering higher energy density than LFP, how do you manage the trade-offs in safety and thermal stability?
A. We deliberately use mid nickel NMC with higher cobalt and manganese content to stabilise the cathode at the molecular level, reducing thermal runaway and safety risks compared to high nickel NMC cells used widely in India. Electrode design and minimised resistance further reduce heat generation during operation. This allows us to retain the energy density and range advantages of NMC without compromising safety. In parallel, we also develop LFP graphite cells for long cycle life and very high-nickel silicon NMC cells for extreme energy density and high-discharge applications, addressing safety through solid-electrolyte-interface optimisation and dendrite prevention at the device physics level rather than compromising performance.
Q. How do you design a test plan to validate cycle life and performance for next-generation chemistry cells?
A. We follow a three-step process. First, we perform rigorous simulations on component materials to understand how they behave in electrodes and to optimise loading levels for repeatable manufacturing and target specifications. Next, we conduct a sensitivity analysis to identify reliable and failure-prone conditions. Finally, we produce multiple cell copies and run the design of experiments under extreme conditions, such as 45° C and 2 °C stress cycling, to validate performance, induce potential failure modes and ensure that even under abnormal stress, the cells meet functional and durability requirements.
Q. What is your current manufacturing setup in India, and how does it integrate with your global operations?
A. India is planned as our high-volume manufacturing hub, but today large-scale cell production is carried out at our facility in South Korea. The lithium-ion cells manufactured there are shipped to India, where we assemble complete battery packs, including two-wheeler packs, for local deployment. As part of our partnership with Mahanagar Gas Limited, we are executing an exact copy strategy. This involves transferring the validated process, equipment and golden recipe from Korea to India, enabling identical cell manufacturing at a significantly larger scale within India for our already commercialised cells running on roads in India, starting in 2024.
Q. Have you received any government funding in India or elsewhere for prototyping or development?
A. We have not received any funding from the Government of India or the US government, largely because we have not actively applied for such programs so far. At present, the company is funded through private venture capital and strategic investors via equity funding. As our technology roadmap evolves and begins to address more complex gaps at a global level, we are starting to explore government-linked funding opportunities, particularly in the US. Government funding in India has not yet been evaluated in detail, but it remains an option as we scale further.
Q. How do you manage supply chain risk, and are there plans for backward integration or partnerships?
A. Supply chain risk, especially dependence on China, is a key focus for us. Because we fully own and understand our IP across cell materials, cell designs, devices, and products, we can consciously decouple from Chinese suppliers. We source from established non-Chinese partners in Europe and Korea while simultaneously building localised partnerships in India. For example, we work closely with Himadri Speciality Chemicals Limited (HSCL) for graphite anode materials, qualifying them for current and future advanced devices and products, enabling both supply security. Localisation in India and gradual backward integration. In addition, we are working actively on next-generation LFP cathode active materials as well as anode active materials in the silicon space through molecular innovation as well as advanced process technology development.
Q. Can you share how many units were sold and the revenue recorded in the past financial year?
A. We track our financials on a calendar year basis rather than the Indian financial year. In 2024, revenues were minimal as we were focused on initial field deployment and product validation. In 2025, we will deploy over 1000 two-wheeler battery packs in the field. The assets already deployed represent close to six crore rupees in value, while our confirmed order book stands at approximately ₹250 million. Deployment has been deliberately paced due to capacity limits at our South Korea facility and strategic demands in the USA.
Q. What are the key challenges you face in scaling rapidly as a deep tech startup in India?
A. India has been supportive overall, but scaling deep tech startups requires stronger ecosystem alignment. Government funding for hardware and manufacturing-focused startups should be significantly higher than software-oriented grants, as asset-heavy validation is unavoidable. Customer adoption is another challenge, as there is limited prioritisation of Indian supply chains even when capable domestic solutions exist, unlike markets such as China, where Chinese suppliers have assured and priority sales within China. Additionally, both public and private funding ecosystems tend to favor short term digital businesses over long-term product IP and manufacturing-led innovation. A coordinated push from government and industry to prioritise the adoption and funding of nation-building deep tech companies would meaningfully accelerate scale and impact, and allow engineering- and physics-focused founders building excellent tech to remain dedicated to innovation and scaling rather than chasing funding.
Q. Are you exploring partnerships with academia or channel partners for innovation?
A. Yes, we actively collaborate with academia in the US, including board member alumni networks, to advance critical battery materials like graphite, which is currently 99% China-sourced globally. We focus on optimising graphite production using AI-driven reactor simulations, innovative reactor designs, and process-condition optimisation. In India, we are still exploring academic collaborations, but we see strong potential to partner with knowledge and IP-driven institutions to push the boundaries of battery innovation as we scale.
Q. What are your future plans for technology, manufacturing and market expansion?
A. Our focus is on strengthening technical talent in the US and South Korea to drive innovation, simulation, and device-level product development. In India, we are validating products under challenging field conditions to ensure world-class performance and collecting critical usage data. Simultaneously, we are building partnerships with localised molecule suppliers and OEMs, expanding outreach, and strengthening strategic sales and marketing. The goal is to combine deep tech development, localisation as an FEOC-compliant materials supply chain, and customer success to scale in India, the US and worldwide.
