The missing principle of ‘reuse’ in India’s EV journey

India’s transition to electric mobility is gaining momentum. Electric vehicle adoption is growing, manufacturing investment is expanding, and policy support continues to grow. Meanwhile, circular economy principles are increasingly being incorporated into India’s sustainability and industrial policy frameworks. But circularity is not a single action – it is built on a hierarchy that prioritizes reducing resource consumption, reusing existing assets and recycling materials only when products actually reach the end of their useful life.

India’s policy framework has made significant progress on the recycling dimension of this hierarchy. The Motor Vehicles (Registration and Operation of Vehicle Scrapping Facilities) Rules 2021 and the Environmental Protection (End-of-Life Vehicles) Rules 2025 strengthened the framework for responsible vehicle recycling and material recovery. As of January 2026, 129 registered vehicle scrapping facilities were in operation in 21 states and Union Territories and 4.3 thousand vehicles were processed through them. This represents significant progress in building a formal ecosystem for vehicle recycling and resource recovery.

However, circularity is not only about managing waste after it is created, but also about preserving value before assets become waste. Therefore, the principle of reuse deserves more attention as part of India’s transition to electric mobility.

India has one of the largest vehicle populations in the world. As the country seeks to electrify transportation, the issue is not only how many new electric vehicles can be sold, but also how existing vehicles can be incorporated into the transition in the most efficient way. An effective scrappage policy is essential to remove vehicles that have truly reached the end of their useful lives. Still, treating every aging vehicle as a candidate for disposal risks overlooking a significant opportunity to extend asset life while accelerating electrification.

Vehicle retrofitting offers one such way. By replacing the internal combustion engine, fuel system, and related components of an existing vehicle with an electric powertrain and preserving the basic structure of the vehicle, retrofitting enables the continued use of assets that remain structurally sound. From the point of view of the circular economy, this is a practical expression of reuse. Rather than recapturing value only after the vehicle is scrapped, retrofitting preserves and extends the value already built into the asset.

The distinction is important. Recycling restores materials. Reuse maintains functionality.

Meaning of retrofitting

The vehicle may be old but structurally sound. It can have a polluting engine and still retain a strong chassis, an intact body and years of potential life left. In such cases, retrofitting the vehicle with an electric drive through certified technology becomes a more circular option than scrapping. This is not a competitive strategy with scrap. It is the missing middle ground that politics has not yet focused on.

Environmental mathematics highlights why this difference matters. One two-wheeler produces approximately 90 kilograms of material for recycling and 18 kilograms of landfill waste when scrapped. In India’s fleet of approximately 30 million vehicles, a scrap-first approach would generate 2.7 million tonnes of recyclable material, in addition to generating 0.54 million tonnes of landfill waste, which burdens land and natural resources.

Retrofitting alleviates this burden by extending the life of the vehicle where safety allows, reducing both material requirements and waste production. This alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goal #12 — responsible consumption and production — is no accident. Retrofitting directly supports calls for sustainable consumption patterns, better resource efficiency and waste reduction.

A scrapyard contributes to circulation by obtaining materials from vehicles that have actually reached the end of their useful lives. Additional equipment contributes to circularity by preventing vehicles with structural integrity from reaching this stage prematurely. Both are necessary; the question is what path each vehicle follows.

Hierarchy of vehicles

The policy should be designed to treat vehicles based on their condition rather than age alone. A useful starting point is the National Vehicle Hierarchy Framework, which distinguishes between three distinct pathways.

The first path focuses on vehicles that remain safe, compliant and efficient. These should continue to operate with routine maintenance. Not every older vehicle is problematic, and age alone should not trigger decommissioning.

The second route is retrofitting, which applies to vehicles with sound structural integrity but aging, inefficient or polluting powertrains. These vehicles can be converted to electric vehicles through certified conversion processes, extending their lifespan while reducing emissions and dependence on fossil fuels.

In the third route, vehicles proceed to scrap and recycling. It only applies to vehicles with reduced safety, severe structural degradation, accident damage, significant corrosion or conditions that make continued operation unsafe.

Such a hierarchical framework would align India’s mobility transition with true circular economy principles. He would recognize that not all vehicles are the same and that policy must distinguish between assets that have depleted their value and assets that retain substantial utility value.

A deeper question

The transition of India’s transport sector is not a competition between new EVs and older vehicles. Rather, it is about how India approaches resource efficiency during the energy transition. The circular economy hierarchy exists for a reason. It prevents waste before it is created and is recycled only after the product has actually reached the end of its life. This resolution prevents unnecessary scrapping.

If India adopts an age-based transition route, it would show that it truly understands this principle of circularity. Scrapping would become more acceptable, as citizens would perceive that older vehicles are not being discarded indiscriminately, but are being assessed in terms of their potential transformation. It would enhance the authentic circularity.

India is becoming a world leader in energy transformation. It can also lead to how transitions are managed. Not only through waste, but also through wisdom. This is not just sustainability. This is the principle that has made the Indian economy resilient over the centuries.

(Jaideep Saraswat is the Deputy Director of the Clean Power, Electric Mobility & Emerging Technologies Vertical at Vasudha Foundation and Ashish Dokania is the Managing Director of Green Tiger Mobility Private Limited. The authors declare no competing interest.)

Published – 12 Aug 2026 07:00 IST