India, May 5 -- How Log9 Ran Out Of Charge

Log9 Materials is in crisis. Backed by the likes of Peak XV and PETRONAS Ventures, and having raised over $60 Mn to date, the startup is now overshadowed by debts, legal disputes, and mass layoffs.

The Core Of The Crisis: Its bold bet on manufacturing fast-charging and long-lasting Lithium-titanate (LTO) batteries has proven to be a strategic failure. For starters, LTO is a niche tech with limited mainstream use cases globally and is more expensive than lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries used in most EVs. Further, the tech offered by the company was ill-suited to India's climate.

The China Problem: Log9 lacked the agility to develop in-house R&D and manufacturing expertise. Therefore, it h...