Inside Our Unnao, Uttar Pradesh Battery Recycling Hub

What the site does

Unnao, between Lucknow and Kanpur, sits on a long-established industrial axis in Uttar Pradesh, the state with one of India's largest e-rickshaw populations. The collection yard opened in the UPSIDA industrial area in 2023 to give central Uttar Pradesh a formal channel for batteries that would otherwise end up with informal dismantlers, where unsafe breaking destroys value and creates fire and pollution risks.

At 8,000 TPA the yard is sized for many small units rather than large packs. It consolidates e-rickshaw, two-wheeler and small fleet batteries collected from both cities and their surrounding districts, de-energises them and dispatches them in full loads to grading and processing sites elsewhere in the network, keeping per-unit transport costs manageable for low-value batteries. Each unit is logged individually, however small its value.

What arrives at the gate

Feedstock at Unnao, Uttar Pradesh reflects its catchment and plant type. Every consignment is weighed, photographed and logged against the originating manifest before it enters the process area.

E-rickshaw batteries from Lucknow and Kanpur
Two-wheeler packs from dealer networks
Last-mile delivery fleet packs
Aggregator loads from central Uttar Pradesh

The process, step by step

The 3 operating lines — hazmat transport staging, pack de-energising, module sorting & consolidation — run the sequence below.

Stage	What happens
Booking & manifest	Pickup is scheduled against an approved manifest listing chemistry, pack count, mass and damage status.
Packaging supply	UN 3480 / UN 3481 approved containers, vermiculite and Class 9 labelling are supplied free on registration.
Collection & transit	ADR-class vehicles with trained hazmat crews and GPS telemetry move consignments to the yard.
Weighbridge intake	Consignments are weighed, photographed and reconciled against the manifest within 24 hours of arrival.
De-energising & sorting	Packs are discharged to safe state of charge and sorted by chemistry and destination plant.
Onward dispatch	Sorted material is dispatched to the assigned grading or refining plant with a full chain-of-custody record.

Process sequence at the Unnao, Uttar Pradesh reverse logistics yard.

What sets the site apart

Formal channel for central UP. Registered collection in a region where informal dismantling is still common.

Aggregator partnerships. Works with local aggregators to turn small, dispersed volumes into viable loads.

Two-city coverage. Positioned to serve both Lucknow and Kanpur without long collection runs.

Where material goes next

Material that Unnao, Uttar Pradesh does not finish on site moves to the nearest specialist facility in the network, keeping transport distances and dwell times down.

Facility	Role	Distance
NCR — Gurugram Collection & Grading Hub	Cell Grading & Diagnostics	400 km
Nagpur — Butibori Second-Life Works	Second-Life BESS Works	644 km
Kolkata — Haldia Refining Works	Hydrometallurgical Refinery	918 km

Onward routing from Unnao, Uttar Pradesh (straight-line distance).

Field note

Small loads are accepted but grouped into scheduled consolidated runs to keep costs down.

Frequently asked questions

How are e-rickshaw batteries valued at Unnao?

Batteries are valued after downstream grading, and settlement follows the measured result rather than a flat per-unit price.

Which areas does the Unnao yard cover?

Mainly Lucknow, Kanpur and the surrounding districts of central Uttar Pradesh.

Do you collect small volumes near Unnao, Uttar Pradesh?

Yes, though consolidated pickups of eight or more packs give better per-unit logistics economics. Workshops with occasional single packs are pooled into a scheduled regional milk run.