Having launched its first all-electric vehicle in India last year, MG Motor has now shaken hands with Attero Recycling, an e-Waste management firm founded in 2008. Through this partnership, MG Motor and Attero Recycling have successfully recycled the first ZS EV lithium-ion battery. MG says the leftover materials and metal extracts procured from the recycling process can be used in manufacturing new batteries, thus helping in bringing down costs and contributing to the safety of the environment. This isn’t the first time MG has partnered with another firm to showcase its commitment to sustainable mobility, with the carmaker having paired up with CleanMax to supply wind and solar power to its manufacturing facility in Halol, Gujarat.
With this move, MG Motor is looking to start a new culture of reusing and recycling of electric vehicle batteries that have reached the end of their life, something that people might still be unaware of given the fact that EVs have only recently begun to pick up. As things stand currently, recycling of EV batteries towards the end of their lives is still a tricky process — most EV batteries contain lithium-ion cells, which have a tendency to explode and give out toxic fumes if not dismantled with extra caution. Further, disposing EV batteries in a landfill may be even more hazardous as the cells may release toxins in the environment.
Rajeev Chaba, President and Managing Director, MG Motor India, said, “Ensuring end-to-end sustainability for electric vehicles is something we are passionate about at MG. Since battery waste is a challenge for sustainable mobility, we believe battery recycling is the optimum way of bridging this void. We look forward to doing more work in this space to create sustainable, end-to-end solutions that will help us drive radical impact”.
Nitin Gupta, CEO and Co-founder – Attero Recycling, “As the momentum of EV players grows, it is becoming critical for India to have a sustainable approach to managing E-waste. It also holds the key to helping our country transition from a linear to a circular economy. We have the technology that enables us to extract almost 99 per cent of all metals from a lithium-ion battery and we envision making India Atmanirbhar in precious metals such as copper, lithium and cobalt through these processes. We are delighted to join hands with MG and our partnership will be instrumental in strengthening the EV ecosystem and set an example across the industry.”
While recycling of EV batteries may be a new concept in India, manufacturers such as Renault, Volkswagen, and Nissan have been doing it globally for quite some time. However, MG Motor aims to be the first to bring this concept to India, and this move will further cement MG Motor’s ambitions of a green future and advancements in the field of sustainable mobility.
MG Motor recently gave the ZS EV a global facelift, which is eventually bound to reach our shores — click here to give it a read.