At an investment of Rs 2000 crore over 6 years, Rs 400 crore will be spent at the first phase in setting up the unit at a 65 acres land which is expected to commission in 18 months. In its full capacity, the plant is expected to have a cathode active material production of 20 GWh. Apart from the centre’s PLI the state has also offered capex subsidy for this unit. “This will be one of the largest battery recycling units outside of China,” said Sachin Maheshwari, Head of Corporate Development.
Lohum is the largest producer of sustainable battery raw materials through recycling, repurposing, and low-carbon refining. It was founded in 2018, as the only integrated lithium-ion battery manufacturer and recycler. Over the last three years, Lohum has been able to create the technology and infrastructure to recycle 2 GWh and reuse 300 MWh of battery capacity per annum. With an input capacity of 20,000 tonnes it has 8 facilities across India of which 7 are in Greater Noida and 1 in Gujarat. It is also in talks to set up a facility in UAE.
Tamil Nadu is the leading EV manufacturing hub in the nation. With several EV giga factories, the recycling unit of Lohum will play a critical role in ensuring the raw material supply for batteries that form the core of EVs. These batteries have highly valuable materials like lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese that are infinitely recyclable. On recycling, they are recovered in a powdered form known as black mass which can be reused in manufacturing cells for battery packs in EV.
