: Startup Makes EVs Truly Sustainable, Recycles 1000 Tonnes of Li-ion Batteries/Year #IndiaNEWS #Electric Vehicles The introduction of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries has revolutionised transport technology.

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Startup Makes EVs Truly Sustainable, Recycles 1000 Tonnes of Li-ion Batteries/Year #IndiaNEWS #Electric Vehicles
The introduction of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries has revolutionised transport technology. We wouldn’t be witnessing the current electric vehicle (EV) revolution without them. However, with the production of these batteries, which contain lithium and cobalt, comes associated with environmental and social costs. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, which accounts for 60% of the world’s supply of cobalt, a large number of unregulated mines use children as miners.
Children as young as 7 “breathe in cobalt-laden dust that can cause fatal lung ailments while working tunnels that are liable to collapse, notes this report in The Guardian. Meanwhile, lithium mining has resulted in significant loss of groundwater in South America, while toxic leaks resulting from the process have poisoned water bodies in Tibet.
To lessen the burden on the environment, while meeting the growing demand for EVs, one possible solution could be recycling these Li-ion batteries.
As the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes, “Recycling the [Li-ion] batteries avoids air and water pollution, as well as greenhouse gas emissions. It also prevents batteries from being sent to facilities that are not equipped to safely manage them and where they could become a fire hazard. �
Given that a cumulative total of 15 million tonnes of Li-ion batteries worldwide are due to reach their end of life by 2030, recycling has become an absolute necessity.
Responding to these circumstances, Rajat Verma and Justin Lemmon established Lohum Cleantech Private Limited, a Delhi NCR-based integrated lithium-ion battery manufacturer and recycler, in 2018, to lower costs of electrification both economically and environmentally.
“Besides sustainability concerns, we also realised that the entire value chain associated with lithium-ion batteries was very concentrated in the hands of China — whether we are talking about mining, refineries, cell manufacturing or battery production. This is also a critical geo-strategic problem,� says Rajat, who has over a decade of industry experience working in the e-waste segment.
He adds, “When we started our journey with Lohum, the two key problems we wanted to attack at a macro-level were sustainability and the geo-strategic problem. Our mission is to leverage technology to address both those problems in a meaningful way. �
Today, Lohum owns two facilities in the Delhi-NCR area, with a total capacity of 300 MWh across li-ion battery manufacturing for two-wheelers, three-wheelers and stationary ESS (energy storage systems used in utilities, power producers and grid operators and commercial buildings for power backup).

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