India’s electric vehicle industry is growing rapidly, but one critical component remains heavily dependent on imports: battery cells. While many Indian companies assemble battery packs locally, the cells that store and deliver energy are still largely sourced from manufacturers in China, South Korea, and other countries.
Bengaluru-based e-TRNL Energy is trying to address that challenge through a different approach.
Instead of developing an entirely new battery chemistry, the company is redesigning how battery cells are built. Its technology focuses on battery architecture—the internal structure of a cell—with the goal of improving charging speed, thermal performance, energy density, safety, and manufacturing efficiency.
According to the company, the approach can be applied across multiple battery chemistries, making it potentially useful for electric vehicles, energy storage systems, drones, and other applications.
Origins of the Company
e-TRNL Energy was founded in 2021 by Dr. Vikram Venkataraman and Dr. Deepak Raghavan.
Dr. Vikram Venkataraman serves as Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. Before launching e-TRNL, he worked extensively in battery technology and energy systems. Dr. Deepak Raghavan, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, leads technology development and battery architecture design. His work focuses on electrochemical systems, cell engineering, and manufacturing innovation.
Rather than competing directly on chemistry innovation, they chose to focus on the physical architecture of battery cells, believing that improvements in cell design could unlock significant performance gains while remaining compatible with existing manufacturing ecosystems.
Funding Raised So Far
In July 2025, e-TRNL Energy announced a seed funding round of ₹27.4 crore (approximately $3.2 million). The round was led by the Indian Angel Network (IAN) Group and included participation from several angel investors and strategic backers.
What Problem Is e-TRNL Trying to Solve?
Most improvements in battery technology focus on chemistry.
Companies spend billions developing new cathodes, anodes, electrolytes, and materials. While these innovations can improve battery performance, many challenges remain because of how battery cells are physically constructed.
Traditional battery architectures often create bottlenecks in heat management, charging speed, mechanical stability, and manufacturing complexity. Faster charging can generate excess heat. Higher energy density can increase safety risks. Improving one parameter frequently comes at the expense of another.
e-TRNL believes these trade-offs can be reduced through a redesigned cell structure. Instead of changing the chemistry itself, the company aims to improve how energy moves through the battery and how heat is managed inside the cell. [e-TRNL Energy website]
How the Technology Works
The company’s core innovation is a proprietary battery cell architecture.
Publicly available information indicates that the architecture is chemistry-agnostic, meaning it can potentially be used with lithium-ion, sodium-ion, solid-state, and future battery chemistries.
In practical terms, the design seeks to allow batteries to charge more quickly while maintaining lower operating temperatures. Better thermal control can improve battery lifespan and reduce safety risks associated with overheating.
The company also states that its architecture reduces certain manufacturing complexities, potentially lowering production costs when scaled.
Because the architecture is intended to work with multiple chemistries, manufacturers could potentially adopt it without abandoning existing material supply chains.
Product Development and Validation
e-TRNL remains in the advanced development stage.
According to company statements, prototype cells have undergone laboratory validation and performance testing. The startup has focused on demonstrating improvements in charging speed, energy transfer efficiency, and thermal performance.
Intellectual Property and Differentiation
One of e-TRNL’s key differentiators is its focus on battery architecture as an intellectual-property layer.
Many battery startups attempt to create new chemical formulations. These efforts often require extensive testing, new supply chains, and lengthy certification processes.
By focusing on architecture, e-TRNL aims to create a platform technology that can potentially be integrated into multiple battery systems. This could allow the company to benefit from future advances in battery chemistry rather than competing against them.
Competing Companies
Globally, several companies are pursuing innovations in battery design and performance.
These include:
* Our Next Energy (ONE) in the United States
* StoreDot in Israel
* Sila Nanotechnologies in the United States
* QuantumScape in the United States
* Northvolt’s advanced battery programs in Europe
Most of these companies focus on chemistry innovation, advanced materials, or next-generation cell technologies.
The Global Context
Battery technology has become one of the most strategically important sectors in the global economy.
Electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, consumer electronics, aviation, drones, and grid-scale storage all depend on improvements in battery performance.
- Our correspondent
