The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFC), Government of India, has issued a notification on rules for battery waste management in view of the shift to electric vehicles. Anticipating a need to have an organised channel for the safe disposal and recycling of batteries, the rules, called the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022, are applicable to the producer, dealer, consumer, entities involved in collection, segregation, transportation, refurbishment and recycling of waste batteries. 

All types of batteries, regardless of their chemistry, shape, volume, weight, material composition and use are covered under the rules. The rules also have a provision for penal action in case of a violation and imposition of environmental compensation. The ministry has also set a minimum recovery percentage target for recovered materials out of dry weight batteries. 

The recovered materials will be then used to produce new batteries. For FY2024-25, the recovery target is set at 70 percent whereas for FY2025-26, it is 80 percent. The target for FY2026-27 is 90 percent. Mentioning that the recovery target may be reviewed by the committee once every four years to revisit the minimum levels of recovered battery materials in light of technical and scientific progress and emerging new technologies in waste management, the notification is expected to contribute towards enhancing each and every EV’s cost to the environment in India. This is especially in connection with the fact that nearly 1.4 million EVs as of July 2022 are said to operate in India if the data shared by the ministry of road transport and highways is relied upon. More than half of this volume is claimed to consist of electric three-wheelers followed by two-wheelers and passenger cars. 

The PLI scheme and other policy changes in terms of manufacture and sale of electric vehicles, it is clear that a strong battery ELV and disposal policy has to be in place. From the cost to the environment point of view, a policy extension in terms of the manufacture of such batteries locally down to the fuel cell level should also taking into view the ability of the battery to perform efficiently through out its lifecycle, thus staying alive for longer and when it does die, it should be recyclable to a great extent. 

Dr Akshay Singhal, Founder and CEO of Log9 Materials, averred. “The newly introduced Battery Waste Management standards by the Government under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) concept addresses two important concerns. An efficient and effective waste management of all Li-Ion batteries that are nearing the end of their useful life and are expected to end up in landfills in a few years, avoiding any residual pollution impact. Second is the emphasis on investing in and nurturing the recycling of such used batteries, reducing the reliance on fresh resource mining.” 

Shubham Vishvakarma, CEO and Chief of Process Engineering of Metastable Materials, said, “The Battery Waste Management Rules announced by the Government of India is an excellent and much-needed step towards bringing to the fore innovations and myriad growth opportunities for the battery waste management and battery treatment space in our country, especially at a time when the ongoing EV boom in India is leading us to increasing concerns on e-waste.” “Under the new Rules notified, the Government has mandated a minimum percentage of recovery of various materials from end-of-life batteries, which is bound to enable the growth of novel business models such as urban mining in order to reduce India’s foreign dependency on procuring raw materials for EV batteries and other types of batteries,” he added. 

Ashok Sudrik, Chief Scientist, Infinite Orbit Research and Development Pvt Ltd, commented, “The Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022, were much needed and we are happy that government has started taking cognizance of the hazardous waste being created and the recycling or waste collection. Other than waste management recycling rules, there is a need for manufacturers to incorporate extension of battery life technologies, keep the lithium content minimal and develop innovative cell chemistry. The life of a battery should be 4000 to 6000 cycles, which means a life spane of about 10 to 15 years. BaaS (Battery as a Service) concept with swappable batteries will be a big contributor to the ultimate goal of keeping cost to the environment low.”

In other parts of the world

In Canada, Li-Cycle will begin constructing a USD 175 million plant in Rochester, N.Y., for recycling of lithium-ion batteries. On the grounds of what used to be the Eastman Kodak complex, the plant will be the largest of its kind in North America with an eventual capacity of 25 metric kilotons of input material and a capability to recover 95 percent or more of cobalt, nickel, lithium and other valuable elements through zero-wastewater, zero-emissions process. Ajay Kochhar, Co-founder and CEO, Li-Cycle, said, “We'll be one of the largest domestic sources of nickel and lithium, as well as the only source of cobalt in the United States."  

In May 2022, Hydrovolt, the largest battery recycling plant in Europe started operations in Fredrikstad, Norway. A joint venture between two Norwegian companies – Hydro and Northvolt, the plant has the capacity to process 12,000 tonnes of battery packs per year, enough for the entire end-of-life battery market in Norway currently. Claimed to have the capability to recover 95 percent of the materials used in an EV battery including plastics, copper, aluminum and ‘black mass’, a powder containing various elements inside lithium-ion batteries like nickel, manganese, cobalt and lithium. 

Not just in Europe or US, the rise of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and associated battery gigafactories is pushing forward the creation of a battery recycling value chain. It is a matter of debate whether it got to be a close-loop or an open-loop design in terms of sourcing of batteries to recycle and to put the resulting material to good use so that the cost to the environment is kept minimal. As the demand for use of ‘green’ electricity source gathers pace the world over, on the other end of the spectrum, which involved the end-of-life vehicle for EVs, the demand for recycling in increasing partly due to regulations – the EU regulations have just intensified – and partly by a demand for re-use of materials due to geo-political reasons as well. A strong desire to localise supply chains and safeguard critical raw materials are also the driving factors.  

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Accenture and Google Cloud have announced that Volvo Cars has signed on as the lead industry partner for Horizon, an open-source software development platform designed for car makers and automotive suppliers to build, test and deploy software on the Android Automotive Operating System.

The Horizon platform unifies cloud-native development tools, virtual testing environments and artificial intelligence workflows. Volvo Cars is migrating its global software development environment for the Android Automotive Operating System to the platform to accelerate engineering processes and virtual testing across its global development teams.

Insights gathered from Volvo Cars' deployment will be used by Accenture and Google Cloud to refine the platform and expand its generative artificial intelligence features for automotive and industrial manufacturers.

According to metrics provided by Accenture and Google Cloud, testing speeds using virtual Cuttlefish-based Android Automotive environments can improve by up to 9 times, while infotainment feature development costs can decrease by up to 40 percent. Software build times, which previously required up to two hours, can yield feedback within minutes through caching and build pipeline optimisation.

Remote access to virtual and physical device farms allows engineers to test software without requiring local physical test equipment, while virtual workbenches enable developers to set up development environments in seconds.

Gregor Zetsche, Head of Connected Experience, Volvo Cars, said, "We’re building some of the most complex products in the world, which requires a development environment built to match. As Horizon’s lead industry partner, we can directly solve our toughest engineering challenges and empower our teams to deliver new experiences faster than ever."

Juergen Reers, Global Automotive & Mobility Lead, Accenture, said, "Horizon enables a faster, more flexible and efficient way to deliver software-defined vehicle features. Its standardised, repeatable and scalable processes help deliver reliable, high-quality software products, while significantly reducing time to market. Horizon will allow Volvo Cars’ engineers to focus on what matters most: creating differentiated vehicle experiences and continuously delivering new value to drivers through software at high speed."

Henry Bzeih, Global Director for the Automotive Industry, Google Cloud, said, "Software now defines the automotive brand. Horizon on Google Cloud gives Volvo Cars the ability to move faster while releasing high-quality software and features on a cadence that matches the expectations of modern mobility. This is how next generation digital experiences reach drivers at agile speed."

Accenture and Google Cloud are working with additional automotive and industrial organisations to expand adoption of the Horizon platform across international markets.

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Emerson has announced the expansion of its test and measurement research and development (R&D) facility in Bengaluru, which it claims is an additional 50 percent.

The investment increases capacity at the site to develop software-defined and automated validation technologies for industrial customers.

The Bengaluru facility operates as Emerson's NI Software Centre of Excellence and represents the company's second-largest test and measurement R&D centre globally. Engineering teams at the site hold product responsibility for test software platforms, AI-enabled engineering capabilities, systems engineering technologies and radio frequency test software. The tools serve clients across the semiconductor, aerospace, defence, transportation, life sciences and manufacturing sectors.

Ritu Favre, President of Emerson's Test & Measurement business, said, "Bangalore plays an increasingly strategic role in Emerson’s global test innovation network. The site combines deep expertise in test software and AI-enabled engineering and validation technologies with close connections to rapidly evolving industries. This investment helps customers manage growing product complexity, streamline validation and bring new innovations to market faster."

The expansion provides capacity to advance automated validation workflows and integrated test platforms as hardware complexity increases across shortened product development timelines.

Emerson's investment aligns with domestic growth in semiconductors, electric mobility, and aerospace manufacturing driven by initiatives such as the India Semiconductor Mission and the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan.

Alongside the R&D centre, Emerson operates a second Bengaluru location dedicated to application engineering, calibration services, sales and customer support.

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Digital payment infrastructure company ToneTag has launched an in-car fuel payment system at the Global Fintech Fest 2026.

The solution is developed for TATA.CARS under the name DrivePay and integrates National Payments Corporation of India's UPI Circle framework for Internet of Things devices to enable direct fuel payments at IndianOil retail outlets.

The DrivePay platform integrates payment capabilities into connected vehicle infotainment screens. Drivers can simply pay at fuel stations from the vehicle dashboard without using mobile applications, physical cards, or external payment terminals.

The service also incorporates IndianOil’s XTRAREWARDS loyalty scheme, automatically crediting reward points to customer accounts without requiring mobile number inputs during checkout. Following the initial demonstration at GFF 2026, deployment will begin across IndianOil outlets ahead of a wider rollout.

Vivek Kumar Singh, Co-Founder and Director – Labs, ToneTag, said, "Payments are rapidly moving beyond traditional interfaces such as cards and smartphones, and connected devices are emerging as the next frontier for commerce. With DrivePay, powered by ToneTag, we are bringing an IoT-based UPI Circle payment experience directly into the connected vehicle. This initiative with IndianOil, TATA.CARS and NPCI demonstrates how payment infrastructure can seamlessly extend into connected devices, enabling the vehicle itself to become a secure payment interface. We believe this is an important step towards a future where mobility, payments and commerce are seamlessly connected."

The project combines IndianOil's retail distribution network, TATA.CARS' vehicle hardware, ToneTag's payment processing software and NPCI's UPI transaction network. ToneTag plans to extend its connected vehicle payment systems to additional automotive original equipment manufacturers and mobility providers.

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Hyundai Motor India, one of the leading passenger vehicle manufacturers, has introduced the Hyundai Bluelink Remote Immobiliser security feature for the Hyundai Venue and Venue N Line models.

The feature is available on the connected-car-Navigation-Cockpit equipped HX10 variant of the Venue and the N10 variant of the Venue N Line.

The security system allows vehicle owners to immobilise a parked car via the Hyundai Bluelink mobile application, preventing engine restart in scenarios involving key cloning or unauthorised access.

In cases of suspected theft, users can trigger the immobiliser remotely, locking the engine start capability once the ignition is turned off. The system operates alongside network-dependent live location tracking to assist vehicle recovery. For safety reasons, the software does not cut power or shut down an active engine while the vehicle is in motion.

The feature is being deployed via a Controller Over-the-Air update leveraging Hyundai's Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) architecture. Eligible Venue and Venue N Line models sold since November 2025 will receive the update automatically without requiring physical service centre visits. The ccNC system allows over-the-air updates across up to 19 individual vehicle controllers.

Furthermore, From September 2026, the remote immobiliser will be standard equipment on HX10 and N10 variants, with plans for phased implementation across other Bluelink-enabled models.

Tarun Garg, MD and CEO, Hyundai Motor India, said, “With Hyundai Bluelink now powering over eight lakh connected vehicles in India, we continue to strengthen our connected mobility ecosystem by delivering meaningful innovations that address evolving customer needs. Hyundai Bluelink Remote Immobiliser offers customers greater control and peace of mind by enabling them to remotely secure their parked Hyundai VENUE or VENUE N Line and respond quickly in the event of suspected theft, while incorporating safeguards that prioritise customer safety. Importantly, this feature also demonstrates the future-ready potential of Hyundai’s Software-Defined-Vehicle architecture. Through a seamless Controller Over-the-Air update, we are introducing an important new capability to eligible model variants without requiring customers to visit a workshop.”

At present, Hyundai Motor India offers the Bluelink connected car system across 11 of its 15 vehicle lines in the country, providing functions including emergency crash notifications, vehicle diagnostics, remote telemetry and voice command controls.

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