The Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MoEI) of the UAE revealed that it plans to enter into a joint venture with BEEAH, a regional sustainability and innovation company, and LOHUM, the largest manufacturer of sustainable critical minerals in India, to build the first large-scale electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling and second-life plant.
The partnership was announced on the sidelines of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and is based upon an earlier partnership between BEEAH and LOHUM to introduce high-tech lithium-ion battery recycling technology to the UAE.
The state agency, WAM, reported that the facility will be situated at BEEAH’s integrated Waste Management Complex in Al Saja’a, Sharjah, and will function EV batteries as well as other lithium‑ion types as a part of the country’s broader circular economy strategy.
The plant will process approximately 1,500 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries in 2026, though the capacity will increase twofold in the third year of operations.
A digital platform that will provide end-to-end traceability and visibility, including the collection and tagging of end-of-life batteries for recycling and repurposing, will also be included in the joint venture and will assist producers to remain within the legislation and to be involved in circular-economy efforts.
Sharif Al Olama, under‑Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Affairs at MoEI, said the partnership is in line with the national agenda of the UAE to deal with EV batteries using localised innovations and aligns with the objective of the country to achieve 50 percent of vehicles being electric by 2050.
He further added that the project will aid in reducing transport emissions, building up local industrial capacity, and building sustainable economic opportunities.
Khaled Al Huraimel, GCEO and VC of BEEAH, stated that the project is a continuation of the work of the company on the circularity strategy, which actively predicts the end-of-life management of the EV battery lifecycle in addition to a decrease in landfill as the demands of electric mobility expand.
Sachin Maheshwari, chief corporate development officer at LOHUM, stated that the recycling and repurposing solutions maximise the useful battery life of lithium-ion batteries and then extract important materials with zero-waste efficiency.
He added that recovered materials will be reused in the supply chain, which will help the sustainability vision in the UAE and the global transition to clean energy. The plant will implement a full-circle concept, which will firstly convert used EV batteries into second-life uses, including energy storage.
It will then deconstruct elements to reuse important materials, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite, into the circular economy, which will save the carbon and resource footprint that would otherwise be created when new batteries are produced.
