RACE Energy partners with Lohum to tackle EV battery waste

RACE Energy, a Hyderabad-based battery swapping company on Tuesday announced that it has entered a strategic partnership with lithium-ion battery manufacturer, recycler, and second-life battery solutions provider, Lohum to tackle EV battery waste and explore second-life applications for its used batteries.

In September this year, Lohum became the first non-Chinese company to produce pure metallic lithium through recycling using its NEETM multi-stage hydrometallurgical energy transition material recycling technology. As part of the latest partnership, more than 90% of raw materials from RACE's used batteries will be recycled and refurbished by Lohum.

"This partnership with RACE enables us to further expand the supply of clean energy transition materials needed for the manufacturing of new batteries via recycling while easing the demand for mined primary raw materials that need to be imported to power India's expeditiously growing EV ecosystem via repurposing," said Chetan Jain, Senior VP, Lohum.

With the new partnership, RACE's batteries will find second-life applications in renewable energy storage, power backup, or could potentially be repurposed for smaller EVs.

"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 material extracted from the batteries will feed into Li-ion cell manufacturing, thus creating a circular economy for EV batteries in India," said Gautham Maheshwaran, Co-Founder of RACE Energy.

Earlier in June, RACE Energy inaugurated its battery manufacturing facility in Hyderabad – equipped with a 50MWh production plant with a capacity to deploy 30,000 batteries annually. The company states it unique approach extends battery life by around 40% by equipping the battery and swap station with unique charging algorithms and internal cooling systems.