The Asia LEDS Partnership (ALP) is conducting a two-day Study Tour in India on the 30^th and 31^st of January 2024. The tour is an opportunity for international participants to visit and learn from electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing and battery recycling facilities in the country. It is being conducted as part of an integrated four-phase training programme launched by the Global Climate Action Partnership (GCAP) and the ALP in May 2023 to address key topics related to EV batteries.

The study tour was planned for the third phase of the programme after a majority of the Leadership Group for Clean Transport in Asia (LG-CTA) member countries sought assistance on EV batteries, their manufacturing, and recycling. The LG-CTA  is one of the central Regional Engagement Frameworks of the ALP. It was established in June 2021, when several countries from the Asia-Pacific region came together to support technical and policy leads to work towards cleaner and sustainable transportation in the region. ICLEI South Asia, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the SLOCAT Partnership are the implementing partners of the LG-CTA.

The study tour will be followed by the ALP Forum, which will include training and discussions related to EV batteries.

The tour covers two different facilities in the Delhi-National Capital Region. The first location is LOHUM in Greater Noida, which showcases an example of circularity in the Li-ion battery ecosystem by repurposing and recirculating used materials back into the supply chain, leading to environmental benefits and economic sustainability. Different ranges of li-ion batteries for 2-wheelers and 3-wheelers are manufactured here and it also has the required stringent extended producer responsibility targets. The second location is Omega Seiki Mobility’s electric vehicle manufacturing unit in Faridabad, which is a leader in EV production and excels in crafting sustainable vehicles of all types. Their diverse, eco-friendly processes and upcoming four-wheelers and pickups promise a bright future for green mobility.

The study tour has participants from eight LG-CTA member countries, namely Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India. It expects to provide the participants better understanding of battery recycling units, management of hazards related to manufacturing batteries, improvement of battery lifetime and efficiency, recycling and repurposing of used materials, and extended producer responsibilities related to EV battery manufacturing. It also expects to provide an understanding of 2,3, and 4-wheeler EV manufacturing units and the raw materials used to produce the same along with extended producer responsibilities.

The first phase of the four-phase training programme witnessed two virtual training sessions that provided capacity building on crucial elements of EV battery circularity. The first training session introduced fundamental concepts and featured an NREL-developed model, the Lithium-Ion Battery Resources Assessment Model (LIBRA). The second training session focused on EV battery lifetime, performance, and secondary use. It featured NREL’s Battery Lifetime Analysis and Simulation Tool Suite (BLAST), which predicts battery performance and assesses reliability for secondary-use applications.

The second phase was an in-person side event at the Clean Energy Ministerial in Goa, India, which was led by the GCAP in partnership with GIZ’s NDC Transport Initiative for Asia, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, and the U.S. Department of State. Government practitioners from across the LG-CTA and NDC-TIA network participated and promoted discussions on the formulation of transport decarbonisation pathways and strategies in Asian countries.