Indian EV industry is writing the newest chapter of this country's automobile industry. Electric 2-wheelers (e2ws)?are leading the EV story and from a pure sales POV, companies are having a field day. But this summer, the e2ws are earning a bad reputation – some batteries are going up in flames, some users have lost life, others have cheated death in battery-fire related incidents. As damage control, some companies have started calling back entire batches of vehicles from the customers. Here is some insight on how to bridge the Indian tech with advances offered by compatriots from outside India.
1. Mandate the OEMs to put enough work to comply with a digitally traceable public declaration of their battery composition & grade,
2. Prepare the industry to evade an impending battery-waste and shortage apocalypse as the first batches near their end-of-life, and
3. Save the fast-eroding consumer trust and brand value of e2Ws as safe mode of transport. Brands that put value to their R&D need not suffer the collective fate imposed by the competitors who don't.
By the end of 2022, 'Digital Battery Passport' as a solution will near deployment in the European Union (EU). Driven by a sustainability mandate for a truly "circular economy" and the green deal, the European Commission is working to introduce new battery regulations across electronics, including some automotive segments. These regulations mandate the batteries to be easily removable, replaceable, and recyclable in a wide range of devices - including smartphones and other typical consumer appliances, as well as batteries for “light means of transport” such as e-bikes and e-scooters.
It is a technology platform that enables all stakeholders in the battery supply & value chains to share information about a battery and its history. This is to maximize safety, optimize battery use throughout its lifecycles and ensure recycling at end-of-life.
To make it happen, battery minerals, battery packs and key components (modules & cells) are IoT enabled so data can be shared between stakeholders on a distributed ledger or blockchain. All stakeholders have access to this authorised data in real time, and the data is unalterable.Batteries could carry a QR code linking to an online database where EV owners, businesses or regulators could access information on the battery’s composition.
Indian policymakers and EV industry needs to take a leaf from this EU initiative and work on an Indian definition of Battery Passports verifiable by all stakeholders. The exercise will also future-proof India's systems for battery recyclability and e-waste management.
On the smoothness of crucial technology deployment, India is improving, albeit slowly. Therefore, the deployment of electric mobility should be India's moment of ingenuity, and we need the Executive and the Industry to work closely for it. The perspective has to go beyond a mere tale of "I can make profits vs I can therefore tax you on them. Let compliance come through penalties".
As a young professional with an international career, I have had the distinction of knowing, up-close, several ambitious industrialists and professionals from the Indian ecosystem of governance and automotive industry. Their tenacity to execute path-breaking projects is second to none. However, the ambition is its own curse sometimes and that happens often in India when the Industry and the Executive are often overwhelmed with the volume of tasks that run an economy as tough as this.
The European Commission proposal to be discussed and made into law by the end of 2022/beginning 2023, says the rechargeable electric vehicles, light transport and industrial batteries sold in Europe must disclose their carbon footprint from 2024 and comply with a CO2 emissions limit from 2027. The manufacturers will also disclose the content of recycled raw materials in those batteries from 2027, followed by requirements to use a minimum share of recycled cobalt, lithium, nickel and lead from 2030.
Starting from January 2026, the EU regulations will require all batteries to have an electronic record in the form of the Battery Passport. This will include:
? Material recovery targets: During battery recycling, the recyclers will have to achieve minimum recycling efficiencies and levels of recovered materials.
? Collection rate targets: EU member States will have to accomplish minimum targets for waste portable batteries. Waste batteries will only be exported out of the EU for recycling.
? Declaration of Carbon footprint: In particular cases, batteries and rechargeable industrial batteries will have to carry technical documentation that includes a carbon footprint declaration.?
Some information to be included in the declaration : information about the producer, battery, location (geographical) of the battery manufacturing facility and total carbon footprint.
Deployment of each of these requirements will be bound by different dates. The requirements also call for effective control and enforcement mechanisms for export of waste batteries. This will be necessary to avoid illegal shipments of those batteries.
On 25 April 2022, Reuters reported that a German-funded consortium of carmakers and battery producers, including BMW, Umicore and BASF, has agreed to develop a "Battery Passport" that will trace the content and carbon footprint of batteries in Europe.
The consortium of 11 partners has received �8.2 million ($8.78 million) of government funding to develop a common classification and standards for gathering and disclosing data on the batteries. The German consortium is the first project in Europe to attempt to design a digital product to meet the incoming EU regulations.
According to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, the overarching plan is for the EU to mandate traceable hardware be installed in all batteries used in the continent by 2026. Those intended for use in electric vehicles are up first, with the passport scheme also serving to chronicle everything from the vehicle’s repair history to where the power cell’s raw materials were sourced.??
This is part of a global initiative to advance the concept of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores for businesses in order to get preferential treatment from financial institutions and the government. But it also serves as a way for larger entities to exert new controls over entire industries.
The author?is a consultant and advisor for international business & partnerships,from the electric mobility sector. Based in India, he offers an extensive personal network of highworth individuals across the mobility sector and his 10yrs’ experience from the French Embassy.
For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News.