MG Motor India Joins Attero to Recycle EV Batteries

The Indian subsidiary of Chinese automotive manufacturer SAIC Motor, MG Motor India has today announced joining up with the Noida-based Attero to recycle electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Attero provides a range of recycling, refurbishing, retail, and reverse logistics solutions to help organizations minimize their electronic waste.

Lithium-ion batteries used in MG Motor’s ZS EV units after their end-of-life are to be reused and recycled as an endeavor of this partnership, the automaker said in a statement.

MG Motor India launched the new ZS EV 2021 priced at Rs. 20.99 lakhs in February this year. This new ZS EV has a 44.5 kWh Hi-Tech Li-ion battery with a certified range of 419 KM. This EV was initially launched in 5 cities during its launch in January 2020 however, now it is available across more than 31 cities in the country. The carmaker had also introduced the ‘EcoTree Challenge’, wherein ZS EV owners can participate in the ecological initiative and track their CO2 savings and national ranking in real-time.

Speaking on the partnership, the President and Managing Director at MG Motor India, Rajeev Chaba stated, “The partnership with Attero gives our customers more confidence with respect to the battery’s end-of-life usage. The move will assist in responsible recycling and will further minimize the carbon footprint of ZS EV users while supporting the local economy.”

Not only Attero but, MG has previously collaborated with TES-AMM in December 2020 to recycle the old version of MG ZS EV batteries launched earlier in 2020.

Attero ensures the safe recycling of lithium-ion batteries used in almost every modern electronic device in the market. It claims to recycle almost 95 percent of the batteries that come into its factories.

“More people are purchasing EVs due to environmental concerns and are readily driving the adoption. At Attero, we are today enabling India to innovate more and disrupt the global paradigm while generating minimal e-waste, wherein we hold more than 30 global patents for our recycling technologies, said Nitin Gupta, CEO at Attero.

It is estimated that in 2030, recycling facilities could recover 125,000 tons of lithium, 35,000 tons of cobalt, and 86,000 tons of nickel. Based on current prices for those materials, that would add up to a USD 6 billion market. On top of that, between 400,000 and 1 million tons of production scrap could be recovered, according to the researchers from London-based storage recycling research group Circular Energy Storage.