{
  "id": 1763017,
  "title": "Rechargion builds sodium-ion battery cells from materials India already has",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/rechargion-builds-sodium-ion-battery-cells-from-materials-india",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-18T15:46:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "YourStory",
    "slug": "yourstory",
    "url": "https://yourstory.com/2026/08/rechargion-sodium-ion-battery-cells"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Rechargion, a battery technology company founded in Pune, India in 2021, is developing sodium-ion battery cells using locally sourced materials. The company, a spin-off of the Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR) National Chemical Laboratory, is led by Dr Vilas Shelke and Dr Manjusha Shelke. Their focus is on the raw materials rather than the cell design, with patented hard carbon anode material and proprietary electrode materials and sodium compounds. The sodium-ion cells are cheaper to produce due to the use of domestically available raw materials and lack of cobalt or nickel. They also offer improved safety, as sodium-ion cells can be discharged to zero volts for transport without damage and are less prone to thermal runaway. Rechargion has demonstrated applications ranging from solar storage to a sodium-ion powered bicycle and drone. The company recently completed IEC 62660 safety testing at the Aerospace Research Association of India (ARAI) in August 2025.",
  "summary": "The Pune-based CSIR-NCL spin-off has developed sodium-ion cells using its own hard carbon and electrode materials, and has put them through independent safety testing at ARAI.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}