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EVENT REVIEW — ILZDA 2022
International Conference on Lead and Lead Batteries December 5-6, New Delhi, India
The lead industry in India is performing particularly well and battery makers and recyclers alike agree that lead batteries are also powering India’s economic growth. For delegates attending the India Lead Zinc Development Association, the good news kept on coming.
Firing on all cylinders … and more
There was an upbeat mood as the ILZDA’s executive director L Pugazhenthy, best known throughout the industry as Pug, swept in to welcome the early arrivals of what turned out to be a 150-strong attendance from at home and abroad for the conference proper — the association’s first international inperson meet since the lockdown years.
There was plenty to talk about at the post-conference evening reception, but not before delegates’ thirst for information about the lead scene in India had been quenched.
With the pandemic gloom receding, the conference had much to discuss and much to cheer. Not least the presentation by the executive director of lead recycler Gravita India, Vijay Pareekh, who told delegates the value of India’s lead batteries market stood at around $5 billion — representing 10% of the global market — and was set to reach nearly $8 billion in 2023.
Pareekh said that in addition to batteries, sectors expected to continue driving the growth of lead usage included cars, telecoms, renewable energy, e-bikes, e-tricycles and backup power systems for businesses.
And there was even more data to satisfy appetites for those eager to see India making headway in the economic fast lane. Analysis showed that India was the world’s fourth largest auto market in 2022 and set to accelerate into third place during 2023.
Meanwhile, he said the country’s EV market size, valued at $220 million in 2020, was expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 94% from 2021 up to 2030.
Total lead demand in India had increased at a CAGR of about 4% over the past five years and should reach 1.6 million tonnes by fiscal 2025, Pareekh said to audible murmurs of approval around the conference room.
Secondary lead should represent the major share of that growth, while primary lead is set to remain at about the same level of around 0.25 million tonnes, Pareekh said.
However, he warned that currency fluctuations continued to fuel volatility in the Indian market, which was as exposed as any other nation at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions and soaring energy prices.
India’s decade
Nevertheless, Pug insisted that India was “firing on all cylinders” — with lead batteries helping to drive the country forward as one of the world’s few growth economies in an otherwise troubled time.
In his opening address to the conference, Pug said global financial institutions such as the World Bank
Pug, executive director, of the ILZDA
were acknowledging that this was “India’s decade”.
“We are planning to achieve a GDP of 6.5% for the current financial year and the batteries manufacturing sector and associated industries are playing a major role,” he said.
On the rise in popularity of EVs, Pug said that lead batteries were still a key requirement to keep most all of these new energy vehicles, as China likes to call them, on the road.
“The whole world talks about lithium battery manufacturing but where do lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite really stand as sustainable sources?” he asked.
But he also cautioned against complacency in the lead industry, saying companies had to remain vigilant in cracking down on the informal, recycling sector.
He pulled no punches on this. “We must make sure that backyard recycling disappears from our dictionary,” he said. “We are a technologically-advanced country and we don’t need it.”
Navigating a spectrum of chemistries
He also highlighted a controversial ruling ahead of the conference by the Delhi High Court, restricting the use of lead batteries in e-rickshaws, a move he said was “partly due to misinformation and partly due to lack of guidance.
“We’ve been using lead batteries in cars, motorcycles and scooters for decades without incidences of fires or explosions involving the batteries — unlike lithium products.
“This was a wrong move by the court and I hope that by talking to organizations and government ministries the situation can be rectified because lead batteries are such recyclable, reliable and affordable products,” he said.
A keynote speaker was Sudhendu Sinha, director of the powerful Niti Aayog policy think-tank — also known as the “brains trust” advising Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.
Sinha delighted delegates when he urged them to take every opportunity to stand up for their industry and be quick to counter any suggestions that new energy technologies could replace lead as a traditional battery industry”.
Indeed, India needed multiple battery technologies, he said.
Sinha, who advises on e-mobility and infrastructure in particular, said the think-tank had been part of India’s “national mission on transformative e-mobility and battery storage” since 2019.
“We want to become the world’s leading manufacturer of EVs and energy storage systems and, to support this, the government has invested around $7.5 billion in incentives in recent years,” he said.
Sinha said India could not become reliant on any particular battery chemistry or technology and warned that while a number of battery technologies could “co-exist, those that are not focused on safety, the environment, safe and sound disposal and traceability will gradually become extinct”.
He said battery makers should work with the ILZDA to ensure the benefits of advanced lead battery technology continued to be brought to the attention of policymakers.
Sinha said “if any regulatory push were needed to further underscore the role of lead batteries, industry leaders should come and tell us”.
Meanwhile, the head of the country’s Luminous Power Technologies, CEO and MD Preeti Bajaj, said India’s battery storage sector was at a pivotal moment as the world embraces climate-friendly energy policies while facing energy supply challenges.
In an impromptu speech to the conference at Pug’s behest, Bajaj said data she had reviewed only a few weeks earlier indicated India was on course to see a compound annual growth rate in energy storage alone of nearly 16%.
Bajaj, who took up her post in July 2022, said prospects for the battery storage industry were bright, given increasing reliance and development of
renewable power such as solar, the impact of geopolitical events on oil prices and the climate agenda, she said.
She encouraged battery developers to “navigate the spectrum of chemistries that will form energy storage solutions over the next five to 15 years.
“We are in a growth industry it’s a transformational moment and a moment where storage absolutely is required across the world as a solution to power homes and ensuring grid stability.
“If there was ever a time to be in the battery storage market it is now.”
Rahul Walawalkar, president of the India Energy Storage Alliance and Customized Energy Solutions (CES) agreed that there were a myriad of opportunities for lead acid and advanced lead acid batteries in the stationary energy storage market in particular.
In addition to supporting infrastructure systems such as telecoms and railways, he said lead could make further inroads through rural electrification projects, rooftop solar and inverter backup towers.
Recent analysis by CES showed that in India’s e-mobility sector, lead acid batteries would continue to play a key role in powering electric vehicles.
Walawalkar said the market for lead battery powered two-wheelers and low-speed three-wheelers or e-rickshaws was estimated to be around 5.6GWh in 2022 and was likely to be about 5GWh-6GWh up to 2030.
He also said that India had become an emerging market for battery gigafactories. Based on latest project announcements, he said the country was forecast to surpass 100GWh of combined battery manufacturing capacity before 2030.
ILA managing director Andy Bush had to address the conference via an online call, having been among others in the UK who could not attend in person.
Bush welcomed recent moves to introduce new waste management rules in India as a “starting point” for the country that could also work to the advantage of highlighting the environmental credentials of the lead industry.
However, he said the industry had to show leadership and it was in the hands of lead battery manufacturers to drive positive changes.
He also outlined how India could use recommendations from the Global Battery Alliance, which was founded in 2017 at the World Economic Forum to help establish a sustainable battery value chain by 2030.
Options for implementing recommendations from the alliance in the Indian market included developing a national roadmap that could reinforce commitments to sustainability and the environment, such as adopting an extended producer responsibility code for domestic battery manufacturers as part of efforts to tackle informal lead battery recycling.
The circular economy and lead’s role was a topic addressed in a wide-ranging and highly informative presentation by Asian Battery Conference chairman Mark Stevenson.
He asked how close the industry was to being a truly economically circular industry and said there were still challenges to overcome in a host of areas, such as reducing packaging, whether as much renewable energy as possible is used in manufacturing products and a clear-eyed look at other wastes generated.
Stevenson said achieving a truly circular economy involved tackling a number of complex issues that involved many aspects of a company’s activity and the industry as a whole.
But on the future of lead he was in no doubt.
“When I’m asked if lead is going to be around for a long time I answer it like this… everyone is talking about EVs in Australia, where we have one of the richest copper mines in the world, Olympic Dam.
“The mine’s got 75 years of life in it, but for the upcoming EV market, the world needs seven of those to come online every year. Its rubbish to think you are going to find seven such mines year in year out. Lead is going to be around for a lot longer.”
