Lohum plans $100 million CAPEX to expand second-life battery recycling, plots 10x capacity increase
Lohum plans $100 million CAPEX to expand second-life battery recycling, plots 10x capacity increase
Lohum Cleantech, a firm that recycles and repurposes lithium-ion batteries, is betting big on its dual business plan.
According to the company, it is the only one in the country that repurposes and recycles spent electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries. Lohum expects 2.5X growth in FY2024.
Rajat Verma, CEO of Lohum Cleantech, told Financial Express Online that the company has been profitable from the beginning and that despite being a five-year-old young brand, it has clocked Rs 300 crore in sales in FY2023.
Lohum Cleantech has already formed alliances with Glencore to offer specialty chemicals for EV batteries, Mercedes-Benz Energy in Asia to source second-life battery modules, and IIT-Kanpur to conduct sustainability research.
It claims to have customers and partners in the United States, the European Union, the Middle East, East Asia, and South-East Asia.
The company has invested over Rs 200 crore in operations so far and has a 1 GW recycling capability as well as the ability to repurpose 300 MW of electric vehicle batteries. For the uninitiated, an EV battery normally has a lifespan of 5 to 8 years or 100,000km or more, depending on the OEM and model.
This battery can be used for a variety of purposes. According to Verma, it is often used for three essential tasks.
First, the battery assists in places where there is a power shortage, allowing the batteries to provide the load.
Second, in places where power theft is frequent, the government can use stationary storage to decrease theft, and finally, energy storage, particularly for renewable energy generation, can be used.
India is a viable option for China.
Over the last few years, global players and countries have viewed India as a viable alternative manufacturing base to China.
Verma feels that the specialty battery recycling and repurposing industry provides India with a significant opportunity to be a worldwide hub and an alternative to China.
This could be attributable to the fact that, while India has mostly relied on imports of critical minerals for lithium-ion batteries, there is a lot of R&D going on in terms of increasing energy efficiency and developing alternative chemistries.
On the other side, there is investment planned for the country’s lithium cell manufacturing.
Furthermore, firms such as Lohum Cleantech intend to increase their operations and, as a result, output essential battery materials required for electric vehicles.
In the coming three years, Lohum Cleantech plans to invest more than $100 million (Rs 824 crore) to expand capacity by 10X and revenue by 2.5X in FY2024, according to Verma.
The funds will be used to enhance capacity in India, the United States, and other Europe.
“We have a strength of over 500 people and are investing around 10 percent of our revenue on R&D. There are more than 50 people currently engaged purely in R&D at Lohum Cleantech and working towards further enhancing the technology,” concludes Verma.
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