A number of internet resources describe India’s novel plan, for tracking EV batteries for recycling and repurposing. This idea has potential to influence government policies beyond the vast Indian subcontinent. We explore the concept and discover how it might work in practice.
Plans for Tracking EV Batteries in India
The Indian Ministry of Roads and Highways is behind the proposal. Their goal is to manage electric vehicle batteries from sale to recycling. This is no small task, given that over one million of these vehicles are already on India’s roads. The proposed system will assign a unique identifier to each battery going forward, when implemented.
The Ministry calls these identifiers “Battery Pack Aadhaar Numbers’, or BPANs for short. We were sufficiently curious to discover that Aadhaar is already the name of India’s twelve-digit personal identification system. So this is just the extension of an existing method.
The new policy on the table for discussion, requires that each electric vehicle battery entering the market should have a unique BPAN-type number. This would potentially enable the system to track batteries from production through to disposal. This is starting to make sense!
Tracking EV batteries for repurposing and recycling is becoming critical around the world, as stocks of used electric vehicle batteries accumulate. Having battery identifiers should help spot bottle necks, and set goals for repurposing, repairing, and recycling.
How the Aadhaar Battery Tracing System Will Work
The system proposed by the Indian Ministry of Roads and Highways, will mandate the following:
- All Indian EV battery manufacturers and importers will assign a unique, official, twenty-one-character BPAN to each EV battery they handle.
- This BPAN number must appear legibly, prominently, and permanently on each electric vehicle battery throughout its life cycle.
- Changes to a registered EV battery’s characteristics, including repurposing and recycling, must be updated on the BPAN system.
There are over 1.4 million people living in India, where the annual birth rate is over sixteen per thousand population. The government there is accustomed to managing large numbers.
On that basis alone, implementing a system for tracking EV batteries for recycling and repurposing should be relatively simple. That is, of course, provided the informal sector cooperates too.
More Information
Electric Vehicle Battery Guide for Users
