Nunam Will Deploy The Used Batteries of Audi In E-Rickshaw

Indo-German startup Nunam has found a way to recycle and use the used batteries of luxury car Audi. A press release by the startup on June 15 claimed that the recycled batteries of Audi will be used as a pilot project in the e-rickshaws already mainstreaming the commuting system for the office goers particularly across the metros.

Prodip Chatterjee, co-founder, Nunam, said, “The old batteries are still extremely powerful. When used appropriately, second-life batteries can have a huge impact, helping people in challenging life situations earn an income and gain economic independence – everything in a sustainable way. Car batteries are designed to last the life of the car. But even after their initial use in a vehicle, they have a lot of power. For vehicles with lower range and power requirements as well as lower overall weight, they are extremely promising. In our second-life project, we reuse batteries from electric cars in electric vehicles; you might call it electric mobility ‘lite’. In this way, we’re trying to find out how much power the batteries can still provide in this demanding use case,”.

The release reads, “The primary goal of the startup is to develop ways to use old batteries as second-life power storage systems, thus extending their lives and using resources more efficiently. Funded by the Audi Environmental Foundation since 2019, this is the first joint project between the German auto giant and the Audi Environmental Foundation in addition to Nunam. The startup has developed three prototypes in collaboration with the training team at Audi’s Neckarsulm site which, in turn, benefits from the intensive intercultural exchange. The batteries have been taken from test vehicles in the Audi e-tron test fleet.”

Valued at $11.1 billion in 2020, the size of global battery recycling market is expected to hit $66.6 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 19.5% from 2021 to 2030. When we say battery recycling, it is referred to as collection of lithium-ion batteries through various sources including automotive, industrial, electronics appliances and recovery of metals of element through recycling processes. Value of the global market includes the revenues reported by selling these recovered metals or elements whether that goes into further battery recycling or other second usage applications.

Among the several major players in the market include LI-CYCLE CORP, Accurec Recycling GmbH, Battery Solutions, Redwood Materials, Inc., Glencore International, Retriev Technologies, Umicore, Enersys, AkkuSer Oy, and Duesenfeld GmbH. Other players in the value chain of the market include Neometals Ltd., Primobius, Green Li-ion Pvt., Ltd., SungEel MCC Americas, Redux GmbH, and others.

Researchers at Stanford University had also explored recycling used EV batteries for stationary storage, in fact.