Tata Elxsi Limited: End-to-End Battery Strategy for the EV Era from India
Ahead of the Tokyo Battery & Critical Materials Summit, MIRU is conducting a series of pre-event interviews with featured speakers. In this third installment, we spoke with Raman Kakarla, Head of the Japan Office at Tata Elxsi Limited. In this interview, he shared insights into Tata Elxsi’s business, its India-origin end-to-end battery strategy for the EV era, and the company’s engagement with Japan.
— First, could you tell us about your battery-related business?
When it comes to batteries, Tata Elxsi plays a pivotal role behind the scenes of EV innovation.Tata Elxsi is not a manufacturer of EVs or batteries. We are a design and engineering services company focused on design, development, and software. In the EV electrification domain, Tata Elxsi is deeply involved in the design and engineering of EV battery packs across the full lifecycle—cell, module, pack, thermal, and BMS development.
Our capabilities include battery management systems (BMS), embedded software, electronic control design, system integration, testing and validation, and even support for recycling initiatives.
— What does “end-to-end” support mean in practical terms?
End-to-end support means, we engineer the battery with its entire lifecycle in mind, not just its first use in a vehicle.
As battery performance drops below automotive thresholds, it can still deliver significant value in ‘second phase’ applications like stationary energy storage.
At Tata Elxsi, we design systems from the outset to enable this transition that allows full cycle utilization —covering architecture, software, and integration. This effort goes beyond product development and reflects our circular, sustainability-driven technology approach.
— We understand you are also working on battery passport solutions.
Yes, with battery passport regulations becoming mandatory in Europe, this is a space we anticipated early. We already offer software IP that enables compliance, helping customers meet regulatory requirements without disrupting their development timelines. A major strategic initiative aligning to this is the Battery Aadhaar, powered by Tata Elxsi’s MOBIUS+ platform.
Essentially, every battery gets its own digital ID, allowing us to track everything from where itcame from to how it’s used across its lifecycle - allowing full lifecycle traceability of material data, manufacturer information, bill of materials (BOM), and usage history.
It helps prevent unsafe reuse and noncompliance and supports circular economy and regulatory alignment across India, EU, Japan, USA.
A simple analogy would be Japan’s Individual Number system—each battery is assigned its own “personal ID.”
This solution is already being applied to vehicles intended for the European market.
— How would you describe the current situation in the Indian market?
The Indian EV market is undergoing a major transformation and has reached a critical growth inflection point. Strong consumer demand, supportive government policies, and rapid advancements in technology are accelerating adoption. At the same time, the ecosystem continues to mature, revealing both significant opportunities and structural challenges.
Earlier, the Indian market was largely driven by lead-acid batteries, especially for three-wheelers and stationary use. Today, that’s changing quickly. With EV adoption picking up pace, lithium-ion batteries are becoming the norm, and at the same time, domestic battery manufacturing is growing, creating local value and making the supply chain more resilient.
However, this rapid adoption brings new pressures - particularly on infrastructure. To keep pace with EV growth and maintain a smooth user experience, charging infrastructure must expand exponentially, not linearly.
At the same time, attention is increasing toward building recycling infrastructure in anticipation of a future rise in end-of-life batteries. Overall, India stands at a turning point of rapid growth, accelerating technological transition, and expanding domestic capability, balanced against the need for faster infrastructure scaling and long-term sustainability planning.
— As part of the Tata Group, what is your position within the organization?
As part of the Tata Group, Tata Elxsi has a clearly differentiated role. While vehicle manufacturing within the group is handled by companies such as Tata Motors Limited,
Tata Elxsi operates as a design, engineering, and software services company with an AI-first approach.
Our focus is on enabling innovation through product design and development, embedded software, electronic control systems, and testing and validation, supporting both Tata Group companies and global external clients across their engineering journeys.
— Could you also tell us about your engagement with Japan?
We entered Japan nearly 30 years ago — one of the earliest Indian engineering companies to do so. Today, we support leading Japanese automotive OEMs, suppliers, electronics firms, and semiconductor companies with end‑to‑end design, engineering, and software services. To name a few strategic long-term engagements:
- Apls Alpine - Tata Elxsi has established a strategic longterm engagement with Alps Alpine and have a Global Engineering Centre focusing on nextgeneration automotive software for CASE solutions
- Renesas Electronics - Tata Elxsi and Renesas Electronics jointly established the Next Generation EV Innovation Center (NEVIC) that focuses on BMS, Motor Control Units, EV design & Engineering
- Nidec –The collaboration focuses on developing and localising software programs for India and global markets, while helping Nidec establish a global software development base for future mobility solutions.
- Panasonic – We have a dedicated R &D and Testing centre where Tata Elxsi supports Panasonic build next-generation intelligent, connected, and sustainable home appliances. The work spans AI, robotics, IoT, design engineering, and product innovation.
- Suzuki – The Suzuki - Tata Elxsi Offshore Development Centre in Pune is supporting Suzuki’s green mobility, next-gen powertrains, lightweight design, eco-friendly materials, safety, and software-defined vehicle development. While we have Suzuki’s first cloud-enabled Hardware-in-Loop (HIL) center in Trivandrum to support full-vehicle virtual testing, remote cloud access, and accelerate SDV (Software-Defined Vehicle) development.
Japan and India share strong industrial compatibility, and in recent years, interest in the Indian market has grown significantly among Japanese companies.
— What message would you like to share at the upcoming summit?
We bring strong global experience in end-to-end battery engineering, along with hands-on implementation of battery passport solutions. India is at a pivotal moment, marked by rapid EV adoption, expanding battery manufacturing, and the emergence of circular business models.
In this transformation, we see ourselves as a long-term technology partner, supporting the ecosystem through design, engineering, and digital innovation.
We place strong value on collaboration with Japanese companies, globally respected for their engineering excellence, quality discipline, and long-term vision, and we look forward to deepening these partnerships to co-create sustainable, future-ready mobility solutions in the years ahead.
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（IRuniverse R.S. & YT）
