{
  "id": 2098569,
  "title": "Indi Energy makes sodium-ion batteries with an anode built from farm waste",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/indi-energy-makes-sodium-ion-batteries-with-an-anode-built-from-farm",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-20T05:58:15.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "YourStory",
    "slug": "yourstory",
    "url": "https://yourstory.com/2026/08/indi-energy-sodium-ion-batteries"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Indi Energy, a Roorkee-based company founded in 2019, is developing sodium-ion batteries made with an anode constructed from farm waste. The company's founders, including CEO Akash Soni and researchers from IIT Roorkee, aim to produce the entire battery components rather than relying on imported parts. Indi Energy creates its own hard carbon, known as BioBlack, derived from biomass, as well as sodium-ion cathodes and electrolytes, which are then combined to form pouch cells. The company targets lead-acid batteries for applications such as e-rickshaws, inverters, and solar street lights, rather than electric vehicles, as sodium-ion cells have lower energy density per kilogram compared to lithium batteries. Sodium-ion cells boast high energy efficiency (90-95%) and a cycle life exceeding 2,000 cycles, while also handling fast charging without thermal runaway.",
  "summary": "The IIT Roorkee spin-off produces its own hard carbon, cathode and electrolyte, and is aiming at the lead-acid batteries that still power much of India.",
  "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."
}