![\"India](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1x1_spacer.png\" "\\"India")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIndia is already seeing strong EV penetration, with monthly sales of about 1.4 lakh electric two-wheelers, 17,000\u201318,000 electric three-wheelers, and 15,000\u201316,000 electric four-wheelers, according to industry estimates
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t| Photo Credit:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Hindu\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
As India\u2019s early-generation electric vehicles begin approaching the end of their usable life, the country is moving towards its first large wave of retired EV batteries marking a critical inflection point for battery recycling and second-life energy storage companies.<\/p>\n
India is already seeing strong EV penetration, with monthly sales of about 1.4 lakh electric two-wheelers, 17,000\u201318,000 electric three-wheelers, and 15,000\u201316,000 electric four-wheelers, according to industry estimates. Even before the first large replacement cycle begins, these volumes are building the base for a recycling market that could expand nearly ten-fold by 2030, led initially by commercial vehicles, said Utkarsh Singh, chief executive of BatX Energies.<\/p>\n
\u201cVolumes will ramp up first from two-wheelers, given India\u2019s massive two-wheeler base and the suitability of EVs for daily-use and gig-economy applications,\u201d Singh said, adding that commercial four-wheelers will follow, while buses and heavy commercial vehicles will ultimately contribute the largest battery volumes over time.<\/p>\n
Recyclers are scaling capacity in anticipation. Attero, an electronic waste and lithium-ion battery recycling company, extracts more than 22 pure metals through a proprietary process combining mechanical recycling and hydrometallurgy, recovering battery-grade lithium carbonate, cobalt, nickel, manganese sulphate and graphite with extraction efficiency exceeding 98 per cent.<\/p>\n
The company processed close to 148,000 tonnes of material annually this year, including electronic waste and lithium-ion batteries, and expects to cross 250,000 tonnes per annum in the current year, said Nitin Gupta, Attero\u2019s Chief Executive and Co-Founder. <\/p>\n
\u201cOn the lithium-ion battery side, our current capacity is 17,500 tonnes, which we are scaling up to 60,000 tonnes, as end-of-life volumes are increasing every quarter,\u201d said Gupta.<\/p>\n
Geopolitical risks<\/p>\n
Industry experts say growth is being driven by a convergence of factors: the global push for self-reliance in critical minerals, India\u2019s extended producer responsibility (EPR) framework, which makes manufacturers accountable for managing products across their entire lifecycle to enable a circular economy; and the energy transition, which depends heavily on batteries as storage systems. Materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel account for a large share of battery costs and remain exposed to supply and geopolitical risks.<\/p>\n
According to Vasudha Madhavan, Founder and Chief Executive of Ostara Advisors, the most durable margins in battery recycling come from EPR-linked processing fees and recovered materials. Processing and EPR fees are contract-backed and recurring, while recovered metals and black mass benefit from India\u2019s long-term battery demand and import dependence.<\/p>\n
BatX\u2019s Singh said recycling economics can work without subsidies, but EPR plays a critical role in stabilising margins in an otherwise volatile market. \u201cEPR enforcement can add about 6\u20137 per cent to EBITDA, which meaningfully supports scale-up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Second-life applications, such as stationary storage for telecom or renewables, offer higher gross margins per usable kilowatt-hour but involve higher testing, integration and working capital risks, making them less predictable at scale, Singh added.<\/p>\n
As India\u2019s EV fleet matures, recyclers are racing to align capacity with the uneven arrival of end-of-life batteries. Whether the sector scales sustainably will depend on enforcement of EPR norms, clarity on traceability and the ability of players to balance capital investment with long-gestation returns.<\/p>\n
Published on January 6, 2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"India is already seeing strong EV penetration, with monthly sales of about 1.4 lakh electric two-wheelers, 17,000\u201318,000 electric…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[24990,123466,242,58367,69907,85,46,141],"class_list":{"0":"post-225322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-electric-vehicle","9":"tag-end-of-life-volumes-rise","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-ev-battery","12":"tag-ev-battery-recycling","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}