Established in 2018, Scion Energy Storage facilitates storage by providing customized solutions for stationary and non-stationary storage problems. It is a part of GITA group (founded in 1950) which has substantial interest in multiple activities, such as Hydro & Renewable Energy, manufacturing Indian railway concrete sleepers, electricity transmission poles, irrigation/water supply pipes, special steel wires and strands, Foundry, real estate & construction, Pulses processing, (Dal Mills) and lifestyle retail (Bonsaii).
Within a year, Scion has become the leading provider of energy storage solutions in India. Founder Neha Tapadiya believes the secret to Scion’s success has been their use of pioneering technology.
Now living in Solapur, Neha had studied Engineering in Electronics in Shivaji University, Kolhapur, and worked in an IT company in Bangalore. Later, she studied Engineering Management at Northeastern University in Boston, America. Afterward, Neha started working with EnerNOC, an energy intelligence company, in Boston, while Manish (her husband and co-founder of Scion) worked with Amazon in Seattle, later joining an energy storage company.
During this stint, they became acquainted with lithium-ion solutions- a completely new technology, which seemed to be a commercially viable answer to storage problems. Impressed, they decided to bring this nascent concept to the market.
Scion Energy Storage was set up in Pune, in Maharashtra. Initially, Scion’s publicity had depended heavily on word-of-mouth. They had also relied on online portals such as IndiaMart. Their breakthrough came after sponsoring the Go Kart Design Challenge, following which they began to be flooded with enquiries. Today, Scion Energy Storage has expertise in manufacturing all types of Lithium-ion batteries and chargers, dealing in various chemistries like LiFePO4, LCO, NMC, with the latest testing facilities, and collaborations with reputed technological institutions like BEL and CMET.
Lithium-ion batteries have several advantages: they are lightweight, energy-dense and incredibly fast-charging, being capable of regaining 90% energy in two hours, and 100% in three; they have a service life of 2,000 to 3,000 cycles; they function in a wide range of temperatures, from as low as -10° C to as high as 60° C. Besides, lithium-ion batteries have a low self-discharge rate (less than 2%) and need no extra maintenance.
Lithium-ion batteries have a wide range of application: besides energy storage, they are also used in electronic vehicles, military defence, telecom, and railways. Thus, the commercial scope for this technology is vast. Unsurprisingly, Scion have a wide range of products, including cylindrical cells of various sizes, polymer cells, prismatic cells, lithium chargers, and customized lithium ion and ferrous phosphate battery packs.
To capitalize on this fast growth, Neha is aiming to expand Scion Energy Storage to other major cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi and Hyderabad, and diversifying to meet the commercial potential of this technological marvel. She is a firm advocate of “load-sharing”- this approach has helped her employees- mostly engineers- to meet with the high demands of Scion’s customers.
Besides her work as an engineer and entrepreneur, Neha also spends time blogging- her blog is called Eat.Travel.Inspire. Her role models are former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; Indra Nooyi, director of Amazon; and Hindu deity and mythological figure Krishna.
Since their inception, Scion Energy Storage has seen a meteoric rise, one seldom granted to young enterprises. However, Neha is not satisfied, as there seems to be room for improvement. The company does have challenges, she says. The concept of lithium-ion solution is quite new, and despite its obvious advantages, it is not easy to convince customers who are still inclined towards more traditional, time-tested options. Besides, the cells used for this technology need to be imported from China, and Chinese products, she says, can come in varying degrees of quality, so her company needs to be alert in this aspect.
After all, she states, “Delivering high quality, long lasting and enduring product to our customers is our motto at Scion”.
