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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Astemo Americas, Inc. has announced its collaboration with NVIDIA as a DRIVE Hyperion Tier-1 partner. The company will focus on developing electronic control units (ECUs) utilising dual NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) to support the automotive industry's ongoing shift toward software-defined, Level 4-ready autonomous vehicles.

NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion serves as a production-ready reference architecture and ecosystem designed to help automakers streamline the deployment of highly automated and fully autonomous driving technologies.

Astemo Americas' engineering integration focuses on building a dual-SoC compute engine capable of handling the severe data workloads required by next-generation vehicle platforms. The collaboration pairs specialised high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) computing with optimised thermal and power management.

The partnership expands Astemo Americas' traditional footprint as a tier-one component supplier, shifting it into a primary integration partner for advanced autonomous system infrastructure. By combining its existing background in electric powertrains, active chassis systems and engine management with NVIDIA’s AI processing units, the company aims to provide global automakers with scalable, production-ready central computing nodes that bridge the gap between experimental development and high-volume vehicle production.

Mathieu Devillard, Executive Vice-President and Head of the Electrification Business Division, Astemo, said, “Astemo’s electrification and software-defined vehicle capabilities are central to where mobility is headed. By joining the NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion ecosystem, we can help accelerate the development of advanced autonomous vehicle technologies while supporting automakers with scalable, cost-effective solutions.”

Rishi Dhall, Vice-President – Automotive, NVIDIA, added, “As a DRIVE Hyperion Tier-1 ecosystem partner developing dual NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor ECUs for automotive OEMs, Astemo is helping bring scalable autonomous driving platforms closer to production.”

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American technology company Lucid Group has announced the commercial rollout of its latest over-the-air (OTA) software update for the Lucid Gravity SUV. The digital update introduces hands-free driving functionality alongside upgraded navigation capabilities, thermal management indicators and active headlight technology.

The cornerstone of the software package is the deployment of hands-free driving capabilities through the DreamDrive 2 Pro hardware and software suite. The Hands-Free Drive Assist feature manages active steering, acceleration and braking inputs on pre-mapped, compatible divided highways across North America. The system enforces continuous driver attention monitoring to ensure safety compliance.

By activating the turn signal indicator, drivers can trigger Hands-Free Lane Change, allowing the vehicle's sensor suite to guide the SUV into an adjacent lane once an appropriate gap is verified. Furthermore, the system includes Automatic Lane Change, which can independently initiate passing manoeuvres to overtake slower traffic flow.

The update replaces legacy point-of-interest data with an integrated Google Maps Places API directly inside the native Lucid Navigation interface.

The software patch provides contextual search results, allowing operators to view real-time business ratings, hours, crowdsourced photographs and localised parking data. For electric vehicle (EV) route planning, charging station listings now populate with real-time stall availability metrics and recent user imagery to verify site conditions.

Furthermore, to optimise charging efficiency, the instrument cluster adds two transparency tools:

• Advanced Preconditioning View: Displays real-time traction battery pack temperature metrics as it prepares for high-speed DC fast charging.
• Predictive Charging Power: Forecasts the exact peak kilowatt (kW) charging performance the vehicle will accept before the driver plugs into a charging station.

The update is available for Lucid Gravity trims outfitted with DreamDrive Premium and DreamDrive 2 Pro, it activates Adaptive Driving Beam functionality. The matrix headlight technology improves low-light visibility by maintaining high-beam illumination across dark roads while utilising dynamic dimming zones to automatically mask out surrounding oncoming vehicles, preventing glare for other drivers.

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Cautio, a leading Indian AI-powered fleet safety and mobility intelligence platform, has announced the appointment of Nitin Chadha as Senior Vice-President of Growth & Strategy.

In this leadership role, Chadha will oversee business growth, strategic corporate partnerships and enterprise market expansion as the company accelerates deployment across the commercial mobility sector.

Chadha brings over 21 years of experience across mobility, consumer technology, automotive, insurance and the startup ecosystem. He has previously held senior executive positions at prominent mobility and fintech platforms, including Acko, Spinny and Park+. Additionally, he is an entrepreneur who co-founded sRide, one of India’s earliest carpooling and shared mobility networks.

His appointment coincides with an increased push by commercial fleet operators toward AI-driven data intelligence to enhance driver accountability and fulfil strict risk-prevention goals. Tightening state and national regulatory standards surrounding road safety and continuous driver monitoring are moving fleet management workflows away from reactive accident tracking toward real-time prevention.

This transition is also mirroring larger updates to public infrastructure. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) recently introduced plans to deploy AI-powered dashcam analytics across approximately 40,000 kilometres of national highways to systematically elevate road monitoring, predictive maintenance, and general motorist safety.

Founded by Ankit Acharya (CEO) and Pranjal Nadhani (CTO), the video telematics platform combines intelligent dual-lens hardware with its proprietary operating system to track driver fatigue, distraction, and unsafe on-road behaviour. Within a short 15-month operational span, the startup has built a substantial data footprint across the country, which secures and monitors over 15,000 live vehicles daily across more than 130 Indian cities. The company has been instrumental in enabling over 150 million safe kilometres while triggering over 60 million AI alerts on active driving patterns.

Cautio claims it has successfully intervened in more than 3,000 real-world safety events, helping operators avert over 2,400 potential accidents, flagging 550+ cases of impaired driving and defeat more than 500 fraudulent or false claims.

It has established itself as a safety infrastructure provider for over 80 major institutional and transport clients, including RedBus, Zingbus, Euro Cars, Cityflo, Infants, Shoffr, G4S and the Indian Army.

Ankit Acharya, Co-Founder & CEO, Cautio, said, "Nitin brings a rare combination of operating depth, mobility-sector understanding and growth leadership. His experience gives him a strong perspective on how large mobility ecosystems function and scale. As Cautio enters its next phase of growth, his leadership will be instrumental in expanding our partnerships, strengthening our revenue engine and bringing our fleet safety platform to more operators across India."

Nitin Chadha added, "Mobility in India is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Operators today want technology partners that can help them improve safety, accountability and operational efficiency at scale. What drew me to Cautio is its long-term vision of building safety infrastructure, not simply selling technology products."

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Basemark, a provider of real-time graphics and augmented reality (AR) software, has announced a strategic collaboration with KPIT Technologies, a global mobility solutions provider. The partnership aims to accelerate the development and large-scale deployment of next-generation, multi-screen Human Machine Interface (HMI) solutions for automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

As a primary milestone of this agreement, KPIT officially joins Basemark’s Rocksolid ecosystem as its first certified partner. The alliance is structured to help automotive manufacturers transition HMI concepts into production-grade series deployment faster while meeting stringent industry standards for safety, reliability and performance.

As modern vehicles transition into software-defined platforms, advanced HMIs have become critical differentiators for brand identity and consumer experience. However, scaling immersive, context-aware interfaces across multiple vehicle segments and varied display domains remains a significant engineering challenge.

This collaboration addresses those complexities by pairing specialised software hardware with global engineering scale:

Basemark's Rocksolid Platform: Provides a high-performance software environment tailored for advanced HMI and AR development. The platform is designed to support modern development workflows, including artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted creation, modification, and debugging of HMI assets and application logic.

KPIT's Integration and Engineering Scale: Brings nearly two decades of automotive software expertise, having supported more than 20 million vehicles globally. KPIT provides end-to-end capabilities across infotainment, digital cockpits, connectivity, embedded platforms, systems integration, validation, and global delivery.

The Rocksolid Certified Partner Program is designed by Basemark to ensure that OEMs can execute high-volume, safety-critical HMI programs with verified partners who have demonstrated technical excellence on the platform.

Under the agreement, KPIT will directly leverage Rocksolid Studio and Rocksolid Engine to design and deploy integrated automotive software architectures, including advanced HMI, AR Head-Up Displays (HUD), digital cockpits, and multi-display experiences.

Tero Sarkkinen, Founder & CEO, Basemark, said, “KPIT becoming the first Rocksolid Certified Partner is an important milestone for the Rocksolid ecosystem. With KPIT’s automotive software expertise and delivery scale, OEMs can accelerate their journey from HMI concept to reliable series production.”

Omkar Panse, CTO, KPIT Technologies, added, “Our collaboration with Basemark strengthens our ability to help OEMs deliver advanced HMI experiences with production readiness and scale. By combining Rocksolid’s high-performance platform with our solutions, and software and systems expertise, we enable customers to deploy differentiated user experiences across vehicle programs efficiently.”

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