India will see a cumulative demand for around 600 GWh of lithium-ion batteries from 2021 to 2030 across all segments. The recycling volume coming from the deployment of these batteries will be 125 GWh by 2030.

A new report by NITI Aayog estimates India’s overall lithium battery storage requirement to be around 600 GWh for the period 2021-30. The report considered annual requirement across grid, consumer electronics, behind-the-meter (BTM), and electric vehicle applications to arrive at the cumulative demand.

The recycling volume coming from the deployment of these batteries will be 125 GWh for 2021–30. Out of this, almost 58 GWh will be from electric vehicles segment alone, with a total volume of 349,000 tons from chemistries like lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium manganese oxide (LMO), lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC), lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide (NCA), and lithium titanate oxide (LTO).

The recycling volume potential from grid and BTM applications will be 33.7 GWh and 19.3 GWh, with 358,000 tons of batteries comprising LFP, LMO, NMC and NCA chemistries.

The report added the nation would see a consolidated investment of US$47.8 billion (AU$68.8) from 2021 to 2030 to cater to the demand for 600 GWh across all the segments of battery energy storage. Around 63% of this investment portfolio would be covered by the electric mobility segment, followed by grid applications (23%), BTM applications (07%) and CEAs (08%).

The report estimated battery storage demand of 600 GWh by 2030 – considering a base case scenario and with segments like EVs and consumer electronics (‘behind the meter’, BTM) projected to be major demand drivers for the adoption of battery storage in India.