DIN / SMF
European and GCC passenger cars, SUVs and pickups
CHARGE LIFE is building an integrated lead-acid battery plant with its own recycling furnace in Ras Al Khaimah: one million starter batteries a year, made in the UAE from lead recovered from the batteries the region already uses.
Batteries the line would have finished since you opened this page: 000
Sixty tonnes a day through the furnace
Starter batteries wear out. Demand tracks the vehicles already on the road, and the Gulf climate shortens every cycle. Today, most of those batteries arrive by sea.
A one-million-unit plant needs about a tenth of today’s GCC market, before any exports. Imports supply most of the rest.
A starter battery is replaced every three to five years, and Gulf heat shortens the cycle. Demand follows the cars already on the road, not new-car sales.
The GCC automotive lead-acid market, 2026, growing near 3% a year. Most of it arrives by sea from China, Korea, India and Turkey.
Lead-acid remains the standard for starting batteries, including in hybrids and the 12-volt systems of most electric vehicles.
Market size: IMARC Group, GCC automotive lead-acid battery market, as cited in the company plan.
| Factor | Made in RAKEZ |
|---|---|
| Ocean freight | None, made in the UAE |
| GCC import duty | None |
| Stock on arrival | Fresh from the line |
| Warranty | Local, from the maker |
| Spent battery | Comes back as lead |
| Local content (ICV) | Counts in tenders |
Every battery CHARGE LIFE sells is a future source of lead. The plant buys spent batteries back, smelts them in its own furnace and feeds the lead into new plates. One site, one loop.
Lead strip is punched into grids, pasted with lead oxide, cured, stacked, welded and charged for the first time. Every battery is tested and laser-marked before it leaves the line.
The battery starts cars, pickups and trucks, and runs the 12-volt systems of hybrids and EVs. Gulf heat wears it out faster, so it comes back sooner.
Spent batteries are bought back from scrap dealers, fleets and workshops, with a take-back offer for fleets, utilities and public buyers. A spent battery is about 60% lead by weight.
A cap cutter opens up to five tonnes of batteries an hour. Waste acid is captured for the acid-recycling system, and the grids, paste and posts go on to the furnace.
A water-jacketed smelting furnace takes about sixty tonnes a day. Fumes pass through a 600-bag dust collector and an 18-metre stack, with emissions control built into the plan.
Crude lead is refined and alloyed in 40-tonne kettles, checked on a spectrometer and sent back to the oxide mill as the raw material for new plates.
Lead is about two-thirds of what a battery’s materials cost, and almost all of it can be recovered. The plan starts at 30% in the first year, limited by how many spent batteries can be collected, and reaches 60% at full volume.
recovered a year at full volume, documented per tonne
in Ras Al Khaimah: line, recycling, quality and corporate
wastewater, with acid recycled back into the process
behind a 600-bag dust collector, with emissions control in the plan
A 30,000 m² plant in the Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone, close to Saqr Port. A turnkey line rated at one million batteries a year from 40 to 200 Ah, with its own recycling hall next door.
Select a building to see what happens inside.
The full lead-acid line, from lead strip to a charged, tested battery.
The Phase 1 line is quoted by Better Technology (Xiamen). A European line from ANDRITZ Sovema was also quoted and is kept as a later upgrade path for OEM-grade and AGM/EFB batteries.
Inspection and data are designed into the line from the first day, not added later. Faults are caught at the station where they happen, before a battery moves downstream.
Flooded lead-acid starter batteries for the vehicles on Gulf roads: European DIN sizes, Japanese JIS sizes for the region's large Japanese and Korean fleet, and heavy-duty units for trucks and buses.
Closest in the range: S70L3
European and GCC passenger cars, SUVs and pickups
The large Japanese and Korean car parc in the Gulf
Trucks, buses and heavy commercial vehicles
Codes from the CHARGE LIFE price list, within the 40–200 Ah range of the quoted line. Lead content estimated at 0.165 kg per Ah from the Üçem bill of materials.
Two ways to buy, matched to two kinds of customer, and a take-back offer that brings the lead home.
A trade ordering platform for frequent, smaller orders, with live stock and fast small-order delivery instead of full-container shipping.
Large buyers book production in advance on scheduled supply contracts, so runs are planned against confirmed demand.
A UAE-made battery that comes with collection of the spent one. A stronger offer in tenders that score local content.
| Player | Makes batteries in the UAE | Recycles lead in the UAE | Both under one roof |
|---|---|---|---|
| ImportersChina, Korea, India, Turkey | |||
| DubattDubai Industrial City recycler | |||
| CHARGE LIFERAKEZ, from 2028 |
Competitive picture from the company’s equity story. A full competitor map with import volumes is in preparation.
The Annayev family has run a lead-acid battery plant in Turkmenistan for more than 25 years. What it brings to CHARGE LIFE is know-how: how to make the paste, cure the plates and form the battery.
Chemical-machinery engineer, Polotsk State University. Co-owner of the family plant, where he helped commission its laboratories, formation halls and curing units. Has built Charge Life's trading relationships in Dubai for three years and negotiated the equipment offers behind this plan.
Paste recipes, plate curing, formation regimes and an itemised bill of materials for each battery type. Under a technical services agreement, Üçem engineers work on site through commissioning, training and the first production runs. Üçem itself stays outside the company.
A CEO or COO with battery-plant experience and a CFO are recruited before financial close, alongside the equipment vendor's 90-day installation and 60-day trial programme.
The build follows the equipment vendor's own schedule: order, a 120-day build, 45 days of shipping, 90 days of installation and commissioning, then trial production and training. First sales are planned for the second quarter of 2028.
Output grows as distribution and collection grow. The recycled share of lead rises with it, from 30% in the first year to 60%, limited by how many spent batteries can be collected rather than by the furnace.
The base plan is one lead-acid plant in RAKEZ. Around it sit options the plant makes possible, none of which the plan depends on.
One million batteries a year of capacity, three product series, and the plant's own recycling loop.
CHARGE LIFE is working towards financial close. If you invest or lend, distribute batteries, buy for a fleet, or collect spent batteries, we would like to hear from you.
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