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RAKEZ · Ras Al Khaimah · UAE

Made inthe Gulf.Made again.

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.

Line pace at nameplate1 battery / 26.2 s

Batteries the line would have finished since you opened this page: 000

82207.2
PbLead

Sixty tonnes a day through the furnace

Nameplate capacity
1,000,000
batteries a year
Line pace
3,300
every 24 hours
Recycling furnace
60 t
smelted per day
RAKEZ, Ras Al Khaimah
30,000 m²
of plant
Commercial operation
Q2 2028
first sales
The market

A market that runs on replacement.

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.

~10%OF GCC DEMAND

A one-million-unit plant needs about a tenth of today’s GCC market, before any exports. Imports supply most of the rest.

3–5years

Every vehicle needs a new one

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.

~$430Ma year

Supplied mostly by imports

The GCC automotive lead-acid market, 2026, growing near 3% a year. Most of it arrives by sea from China, Korea, India and Turkey.

12 Vstandard

Still the starting battery

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.

Follow one battery

Imported, or made in RAKEZ?

1RAKEZ plantMade and tested in Ras Al Khaimah
2DistributorFresh stock, local warranty
3Workshop or fleetBattery fitted
Spent battery bought back and recycled in RAKEZ
FactorMade in RAKEZ
Ocean freightNone, made in the UAE
GCC import dutyNone
Stock on arrivalFresh from the line
WarrantyLocal, from the maker
Spent batteryComes back as lead
Local content (ICV)Counts in tenders
The circular model

Recycling is where the cost advantage comes from.

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.

Make
Drive
Collect
Break
Smelt
Refine
3,300batteries every 24 hours
01 / 06Production hall

Make

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.

02 / 06In the field

Drive

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.

03 / 06Take-back

Collect

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.

04 / 06Recycling hall

Break

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.

05 / 06Furnace

Smelt

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.

06 / 06Back to plates

Refine

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.

Try it · at full volume, 850,000 batteries a year

How much of the plant’s lead comes back through the loop?

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.

Lead needed a year≈ 11,440 t
From the loopBought as refined lead
Lead recovered
6,864 t
a year, back into plates
Lead bought in
4,576 t
a year, on LME terms
Spent batteries processed
11,440 t
a year, kept out of landfill
Furnace load
58%
of 60 t/day capacity
6,860t of lead

recovered a year at full volume, documented per tonne

100+jobs

in Ras Al Khaimah: line, recycling, quality and corporate

5 t/htreated

wastewater, with acid recycled back into the process

18 mstack

behind a 600-bag dust collector, with emissions control in the plan

The plant

One site in RAKEZ. Production and recycling under one roof.

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.

RAKEZ · SITE BOUNDARY · SCHEMATIC, NOT TO SCALEPRODUCTION HALL≈ 20,000 m²RECYCLING HALL≈ 5,000 m²WAREHOUSE, LAB AND OFFICES≈ 5,000 m²WORKER ACCOMMODATIONOn or near sitePlatesAssembly AAssembly BFormationFinishingREFINED LEADSPENT BATTERIES INMATERIALS IN · BATTERIES OUTGATE · ROAD TO SAQR PORT AND GCC

Select a building to see what happens inside.

≈ 20,000 m²

Production hall

The full lead-acid line, from lead strip to a charged, tested battery.

  • Plate making and curing
  • Two assembly lines
  • Formation tanks and chargers
  • Finishing and final test
Walk the line

From lead strip to a tested battery, and back.

Turnkey line · 100–120 day build · FOB Xiamen
Plate makingPasting at 20–35 m/min
  • Lead strip line0.7–1.2 mm strip · 35–45 m/min
  • Punching line170–220 strokes/min
  • Continuous pasting × 20.8–3.5 mm plates · 20–35 m/min
  • Oxide mill24 t model · ≥ 21 t/day
  • Paste mixers × 21,000 kg per batch
  • Curing & drying chambers × 83.0 × 3.3 × 3.0 m internal

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.

Built-in intelligence

A plant that knows every battery by its serial number.

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.

  • Manufacturing executionA live digital record for every battery, tied to its serial number, from plate casting to formation. No paper travellers.
  • Vision inspectionCameras on the line check plate curing and case welding as they happen, so a fault is caught at its station instead of after final assembly.
  • Predictive maintenanceVibration, temperature and current sensors on formation chargers and casting machines flag wear before it stops the line.
  • Energy schedulingFormation charging is the most power-hungry step. It is scheduled into the cheapest tariff windows.
  • One system of recordProduction, procurement, inventory and finance in one ERP, with cost and yield visible by SKU.
MES · battery recordIllustration
CL-28-004172S100L5 · Line A
  1. 01Grid weight PASS
  2. 02Plate curing · vision PASS
  3. 03Stack & envelope PASS
  4. 04Short-circuit test PASS
  5. 05Inter-cell weld · vision PASS
  6. 06Leak test PASS
  7. 07Formation profile PASS
  8. 08High-current test PASS
  9. 09Laser mark PASS
Released to warehouse9/9
Products

Three series, 40 to 200 Ah.

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.

Find a battery by capacity
40100150200 Ah

Closest in the range: S70L3

European standard

DIN / SMF

12 V
44–100Ah

European and GCC passenger cars, SUVs and pickups

S44L1S50L1S50L2S55L2S60L2S70L3S75L3S80L4S88L5S100L5
Planned share of output50%
Japanese standard

JIS

12 V
40–100Ah

The large Japanese and Korean car parc in the Gulf

J40NS40J45NS40J45NS60J60NS60J90N70J100N70
Planned share of output35%
Commercial

Heavy Duty

12 V
150–200Ah

Trucks, buses and heavy commercial vehicles

HD150D5HD180D5HD190D5HD200D6
Planned share of output15%

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.

Go to market

Sold to the people who fit batteries, and bought back from them.

Two ways to buy, matched to two kinds of customer, and a take-back offer that brings the lead home.

Online ordering

Workshops, distributors, small fleets

A trade ordering platform for frequent, smaller orders, with live stock and fast small-order delivery instead of full-container shipping.

Reserved capacity

National distributors, fleets, public buyers

Large buyers book production in advance on scheduled supply contracts, so runs are planned against confirmed demand.

Take-back

Fleets, utilities, government buyers

A UAE-made battery that comes with collection of the spent one. A stronger offer in tenders that score local content.

Where CHARGE LIFE sits

Making and recycling on one site is what sets it apart.

PlayerMakes batteries in the UAERecycles lead in the UAEBoth 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.

Heritage

Not a first attempt. A family that has made batteries since 1998.

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.

28Years making batteries
3Years trading in the UAE
  1. 1998Üçem opensAnna and Şaja Annayev found Üçem near Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. It has made lead-acid batteries, certified to the national standard, ever since.
  2. 2018European technology comes inThe family brings Italian and German production technology into the plant. Mekan Annayev helps commission its laboratories, formation halls and curing units.
  3. 2023Charge Life in DubaiCharge Life starts trading batteries in the UAE and builds the market relationships the plant will sell through.
  4. Jun 2026Line and furnace specifiedTurnkey quotations for a one-million-unit line with a 60 t/day recycling unit, plus a European offer kept as an upgrade path.
  5. Jul 2026Site in RAKEZLand offer from RAKEZ in Ras Al Khaimah, with access to Saqr Port.
  6. Q2 2028First battery soldCommercial operation, about fifteen months after financial close.
Founder & Managing Director

Mekan Annayev

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.

Know-how partner

Üçem engineering team

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.

Management

Plant leadership

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.

Roadmap

Fifteen months from financial close to the first battery sold.

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.

WorkstreamNowQ1 27Q2 27Q3 27Q4 27Q1 28Q2 28Q3 28Q4 28
Before close
Offtake, know-how & collection agreements
Corporate
Financial close, offtake signed
Company set-up & RAKEZ licence
Land & permits
Site lease signed
EIA, building permit, ESMA
Design & build
Engineering & EPC tender
Site preparation & earthworks
Factory buildings
Utilities: substation, HVAC, fire
Worker accommodation
Equipment
Line ordered, 120-day build
Recycling unit
Freight & customs, 45 days
Install & commission, 90 days
Emissions control systems
MES & vision QA
Start-up
Üçem engineers on site
Hiring, training, trial runs
Collection network & distributors
Commercial operation
After the first sale

A steady ramp to 85% of nameplate by 2033.

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.

Batteries a year, base plan0250k500k750k1MNAMEPLATE 1,000,000150k202830% loop350k202940% loop550k203050% loop700k203155% loop800k203260% loop850k203360% loop
Growth

The plant is the first ring.

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.

COREREACHNEXTRAKEZ1M batteries / yr
From 2028

The RAKEZ plant

One million batteries a year of capacity, three product series, and the plant's own recycling loop.

  • Lead-acid starter batteries, 40–200 Ah
  • 60 t/day recycling furnace
  • UAE and GCC distribution
Get involved

Help close the 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.

Deal room accessInvestor or lender

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