Pioneering Partnership Aims to Extend Battery Life and Reduce Waste, Creating a Circular Economy for EV Batteries
In a groundbreaking development, RACE Energy, a pioneering deep-tech electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure company, has forged a strategic partnership with LOHUM, India’s largest producer of sustainable energy transition materials. This partnership is poised to tackle the pressing issue of EV battery waste and explore second-life applications, in alignment with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) guidelines for responsible battery management.
One of the most significant facets of this collaboration is the commitment to recycling and refurbishing over 90% of raw materials from RACE’s used batteries. This commitment to sustainability echoes RACE Energy’s proactive approach to extending battery life by approximately 40%, utilizing innovative charging algorithms and internal cooling systems in their batteries and swap stations.
RACE Energy marked a significant milestone earlier this year with the inauguration of their state-of-the-art battery manufacturing facility. This facility boasts a 50 MWh production plant capable of deploying 30,000 batteries annually. As RACE continues to scale up its battery swapping operations, this partnership with LOHUM takes a giant leap forward in ensuring responsible battery disposal.
LOHUM, for its part, made history in September 2023 by utilizing their NEETM™ multi-stage hydrometallurgical energy transition material recycling technology to produce Pure Metallic Lithium. This achievement positions LOHUM as the first non-Chinese company to achieve this through recycling. The implications are profound, as it extends the usefulness and value of RACE’s EV batteries in secondary raw material and second-life ecosystems.
Gautham Maheswaran, Co-Founder of RACE Energy, emphasized the importance of this collaboration, saying, “This partnership with LOHUM enables us to further extend the life of swappable battery modules, which will be seamlessly transitioned into useful second-life applications. The raw materials extracted from the batteries will feed into Lithium-ion cell manufacturing, thus creating a circular economy for EV batteries in India.”
Chetan Jain, Senior VP – Business at LOHUM, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, highlighting that “RACE’s innovations resonate with LOHUM’s mission of accelerating the clean energy transition by building a parallel supply of secondary raw materials and making battery materials last forever.” This partnership not only expands the supply of clean energy transition materials but also reduces the demand for primary raw materials, supporting India’s rapidly growing EV ecosystem.
Since its inception in 2019, RACE Energy has been at the forefront of addressing key challenges in the EV industry. Their battery-swapping technology has effectively addressed issues such as high vehicle costs, long charging times, and range anxiety. With this partnership, RACE’s batteries will find new life in applications such as renewable energy storage and power backup, or they will be repurposed for smaller EVs. As the Lithium-ion battery recycling market is projected to reach USD 14 billion by 2030, this collaboration underlines a strong commitment to an environmentally conscious and sustainable future.
The partnership between RACE Energy and LOHUM is set to make a significant impact on the EV industry, setting a new standard for responsible and sustainable battery management and recycling, while furthering India’s journey towards a greener, cleaner future.