RACE Energy, LOHUM partner for sustainable EV battery recycling

RACE Energy, a deep-tech electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure company for battery swapping has announced a partnership with LOHUM to tackle EV battery waste and identify second life use applications. Aligning with the mandate under EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) guidelines for responsible battery management, this partnership ensures that more than 90 percent of raw materials from RACE's used batteries will be recycled/refurbished, the company stated.

Gautham Maheswaran, Co-Founder, RACE Energy said, “We have always worked towards ensuring the optimal use of our batteries at RACE. With our in-house software, we incentivise drivers and encourage them to efficiently use their batteries for shorter ranges, enabling them to be utilised to a much lower State of Health (SOH) level. 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.” 

Speaking on the partnership Chetan Jain, Senior VP – Business, LOHUM, commented “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 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.” 

RACE’s batteries will now be earmarked for second-life applications such as renewable energy storage and power backup or will be repurposed for smaller EVs. LOHUM's role involves procuring these batteries from RACE, subjecting them to rigorous testing, and exploring potential alternative uses, thus promoting a circular economy.