India, EU launch €15.2 million EV battery recycling call
India and the European Union (EU) have expanded their clean energy collaboration with the launch of a joint funding call focused on electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling technologies.
Announced on May 5, 2026, the third coordinated call under the India-EU Trade and Technology Council’s Working Group 2 on Green and Clean Energy Technologies will provide combined funding of €15.2 million, equivalent to about Rs 169 crore. The proposal submission deadline has been set for September 15, 2026.
The initiative is jointly funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme and India’s Ministry of Heavy Industries. It aims to strengthen critical raw material security, support circular economy goals, and deepen India-EU cooperation in clean energy innovation.
The programme will support advanced battery recycling technologies, including high-efficiency material recovery systems, digitally enabled collection and logistics networks, and pilot-scale demonstrations of new recycling methods. A joint EU-India pilot line will also be established in India to validate and scale these technologies for industrial use.
The funding call is open to joint consortia involving researchers, industries, start-ups, universities, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and research institutions from India and the EU. Projects are expected to target technology readiness levels (TRLs) 7 to 8 with balanced participation from both sides.
The programme is built around four technical focus areas — achieving high recovery rates for lithium and cathode active material (CAM)-ready purity, recycling processes capable of handling mixed battery chemistries, digitalised collection and logistics systems integrated with the informal sector, and battery safety monitoring alongside second-life applications.
Officials stated that India is expected to generate nearly 128 GWh of recyclable battery capacity by 2030. The initiative seeks to recover strategic minerals such as lithium, graphite, and cobalt from spent batteries and reintroduce them into manufacturing supply chains, creating what officials described as a “virtual mine”.
Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to India, said the initiative marks an important step in the India-EU strategic partnership and highlighted the need for a domestic battery recycling ecosystem to support resource security and environmental goals as India’s EV market grows.
EU Ambassador to India H.E. Hervé Delphin said batteries are central to the global green transition and stressed the need to scale recycling technologies from laboratory development to commercial deployment to secure minerals and support climate targets.
Dr. Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary at the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, said the programme would support the establishment of an advanced pilot line in India while promoting a digitalised and inclusive logistics framework integrating the informal sector with improved safety standards.
Marc Lemaître, Director-General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission, said the initiative reflects stronger India-EU cooperation in green innovation and supports the development of a resilient circular value chain for strategic materials across regions.
The funding call builds on the India-EU Startup Battery Recycling Technologies Exchange launched in 2024 and aligns with the EU Batteries Regulation and India’s Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022.
The EU-India Trade and Technology Council was announced in April 2022 by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was formally launched in February 2023, while its first ministerial meeting took place in May 2023. The second ministerial meeting, held in New Delhi in February 2025, reaffirmed cooperation under Working Group 2 on green and clean energy technologies.
The featured photograph is for representation only.
