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As someone deeply engaged in India’s clean energy transition, I welcome the government’s ambitious electric vehicle (EV) targets. The push for cleaner transport, reduced fossil fuel dependence, and lower carbon emissions is commendable. But amid all this excitement, there’s a growing concern we’re not talking about enough: what happens to EV batteries after they die?

Behind every glowing announcement about rising EV adoption is a silent crisis in the making—battery disposal pollution. While EVs may help clean our air, discarded lithium-ion batteries can become a major environmental hazard if not handled responsibly.

Battery waste is toxic, flammable, and dangerously overlooked

EV batteries aren’t like regular AA cells. They are complex devices packed with toxic and flammable materials—lithium, cobalt, nickel—that can harm our soil, water, and air if left in landfills or handled carelessly.

Unlike conventional pollution, which is visible in smoke or dirty water, battery pollution is a slow and hidden killer. It seeps into ecosystems and can linger for decades. Yet we don’t have a nationwide solution to manage these batteries once they reach end-of-life.

India’s current policies on battery recycling remain half-baked and enforcement-light. This worries me because the scale of the problem is growing faster than our infrastructure to deal with it.

The EV boom is outpacing our battery recycling infrastructure

India’s EV sales are booming. But how many recycling facilities do we have that can safely extract valuable materials from end-of-life batteries? The answer: too few.

This mismatch between EV expansion and recycling readiness is dangerous. Without a proper system in place, these batteries may end up in unregulated scrapyards—or worse, landfills—where they pose serious fire hazards and chemical leakage risks.

Companies like LOHUM are trying to solve this problem with circular battery models, but we need policy-level urgency and mass-scale investment to match the EV momentum.

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The push for clean mobility shouldn’t create dirty legacies

Let’s be clear: EVs are only as clean as their full life cycle. If we’re not recycling the batteries at the end of their life, then the "green" narrative starts to fall apart.

We’re shifting pollution from tailpipes to garbage dumps—swapping air pollution for ground and water contamination. And in doing so, we’re failing to uphold the very promise of sustainability that made EVs attractive in the first place.

This isn’t just an environmental oversight—it’s a moral failure. We can’t celebrate clean energy while ignoring the toxic trail it leaves behind.

Recycling is the answer—but it needs serious support

Battery recycling isn’t just an environmental must—it’s a resource goldmine. Cobalt, lithium, and nickel are expensive, finite, and mostly imported. Why throw them away when we can recover and reuse them?

Recyclers like LOHUM have proven that high-quality materials can be extracted from used batteries and turned into new battery components—at lower costs and emissions than mining. These businesses also create jobs, reduce India’s import bill, and help stabilize the battery supply chain.

But without clear Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) enforcement, incentives, and public awareness, these recycling solutions will remain on the sidelines of India’s EV mission.

What we urgently need: vision, regulation, and infrastructure

India needs a national battery recycling mission—not just fragmented state-level policies or voluntary corporate efforts. The Centre should mandate battery take-back schemes, set up recycling zones, and require automakers to disclose their battery disposal processes.

Urban local bodies, too, must be trained and equipped to identify and manage EV waste streams. And most importantly, we need to educate consumers about why returning used batteries is a responsibility, not a choice.

The bottom line: clean transport must not create dirty consequences

The EV revolution is exciting—and necessary. But let’s not repeat the mistakes of our past, where technological progress came at the cost of irreversible environmental damage.

Battery pollution is a real and present danger. It can be managed—but only if we start now. As someone who supports clean energy and responsible innovation, I urge policymakers, automakers, and citizens alike to ensure that our journey toward electric mobility is truly clean from start to finish.

Because if we ignore the waste, we may just be driving from one crisis into another.