Lohum partners MG Motor India for second-life EV battery solutions

Lohum partners MG Motor India for second-life EV battery solutions

Integrated battery recycling and repurposing solutions provider Lohum on Monday said it has teamed up with MG Motor India to develop second-life solutions for the car maker's EV batteries.

Under the collaboration, Lohum will reuse end-of-first-life batteries of MG electric vehicles to build 2nd-life Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) for a wide variety of clean energy applications in domestic urban and rural markets.

As part of the collaboration, it also rolled out a completely off-grid 5kWh battery energy storage system for an uninterrupted power supply even in regions with unreliable grid infrastructure.

MG Motor India currently sells its ZS EV, besides the recently launched small electric car Comet EV, in the domestic market.

"We anticipate over 1-GW of batteries to be deployed by MG Motor in the market through its vehicles, in roughly a three years period.

"The company already has deployed close to 100-MW of power through the batteries in its EVs, which is expected to accelerate further in the next three years," Rajat Verma, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lohum told PTI.

Lohum said its proprietary repurposing technology will be used to maximize the potential of cells before recycling, utilising healthy cells high on Remaining Useful Life (RUL) to build sustainable second-life BESS for a wide variety of clean energy applications.

According to Verma, the lithium-ion battery recycling market is expected to touch USD 10-billion in the next 5-7 years.

"Battery energy storage solutions hold immense potential to revolutionize India's energy landscape, with their versatile applications, affordability, and undeniable support for local communities," said Rajeev Chaba, CEO Emeritus, MG Motor India.

Noting that the peak power demand deficit in the country is expected to touch 8-GW this year, Verma said, "we are focussing significantly on rural India, which bears the biggest brunt of power deficit."

Uttar Pradesh accounts for 20 per cent of this power deficit on account of being the most populous state, Verma said, and added, "given the situation (of power deficit in UP), one can deploy almost 1-GW of energy from such solutions in that state itself."