Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of Aluminium, offers a range of products such as billets, ingots, wire rods, rolled products, slabs, and more.

August 5, 2022

Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, makes a case for ‘green’ aluminium at the recently held national webinar by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) of India. With its world-class aluminium smelters, metal expertise, global technology partnerships and deep R&D capabilities, Vedanta Aluminium has been a long-time partner to the auto industry, developing product solutions perfectly tailored to their evolving needs.

ACMA’s event themed on ‘Light-weighting with Aluminium and Sustainability’ witnessed the participation of top executives from key players in the auto, auto components, and aluminium industry. Mr. Nikhil Bhagchandani, Dy. Director – Marketing, Vedanta Aluminium, who was the keynote speaker at the event, highlighted the importance of ‘green’ aluminium (i.e. aluminium with a low carbon footprint) in bolstering the endeavours of automakers to decarbonise their products. The company is India’s first to launch low carbon aluminium, branded ‘Restora’, for customers looking to source raw materials responsibly for creating a green value chain. Restora has a carbon footprint that is nearly half the global threshold for aluminium to be considered low-carbon. Its second green product, Restora Ultra, has an even lower carbon footprint that is near-zero and is amongst the lowest in the world.

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Aluminium is currently the second most used metal in vehicles and the fastest growing, a clear indication of the metal’s growing prominence in automobile manufacturing. With evolving consumer consciousness towards sustainability and tightening of emission norms, there has been a significant increase in aluminium usage in vehicles, be it battery electric vehicles (BEVs), hybrids or internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. The reason is aluminium’s unique properties which lend themselves very well to the auto industry:

Owing to its high strength-to-weight ratio, more aluminium in vehicles makes them significantly lighter, faster, easier to manoeuvre and high on performance.
Light weighting of vehicles also reduces their fuel consumption, thereby helping with cost savings and reducing carbon footprint.
In electric vehicles, an increase in aluminium usage in the vehicle extends its driving range by offsetting battery weight, thereby reducing the cost of ownership, even with the addition of more safety features.
Aluminium continues to drive vehicle safety as well, since pound for pound, aluminium can absorb twice the crash energy of mild steel.
Highly malleable & ductile, aluminium also gives automakers exceptional design flexibility, across a wide range of applications – from car frames to engines, battery casings, doors & windows, wheels, and many other smaller components in between.
Further, aluminium’s natural resistance to corrosion gives vehicles a longer life and reduces the need for frequent maintenance, again reducing the cost of ownership.
Finally, nearly 90 percent of all the aluminium used in a vehicle can be recycled at the end of its lifecycle, increasing the vehicle’s salvage value.

Mr. Rahul Sharma, CEO – Vedanta Aluminium, says, “At Vedanta Aluminium, we offer our customers 360-degree holistic solutions to meet their evolving business needs, such as catering to their need for decarbonisation with ‘Restora’, our low carbon aluminium brand. We are further keen to co-create innovative product solutions for new and emerging applications of aluminium in the automotive industry, and together with them shape the future of mobility.”

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Mr. Ramachandra Rao, Chairman – ACMA CFT on Raw Materials, & Executive Chairman – Indo Schottle Auto Parts Pvt. Ltd., said, “As the Indian auto industry increasingly localises sourcing of raw materials, domestic aluminium manufacturers like Vedanta Aluminium can be ideal partners for automakers. Whether it is light weighting, environmentally friendly products or new alloys, such partnerships can shape the future of our auto industry.”

Vedanta Aluminium produces high-end alloys like primary foundry alloy and cylinder-head alloy, which address automakers’ most pressing needs for cost, quality, safety, and sustainability, with light-weighting. Notably, both alloys were entirely being imported into India until Vedanta Aluminium started supplying them indigenously. It is rapidly expanding its value-added product portfolio for the auto industry. The company has also developed an online solution that brings together all of its products under one roof for customers, including after-sales technical support, logistics and financial solutions.

Vedanta Aluminium currently produces one of the largest product ranges in aluminium, including billets, ingots, wire rods, rolled products, slabs and more. The company is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium, i.e., 2.26 million tonnes in FY22. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries.