The Chinese government has released a plan to reduce the impact that batteries used in new energy vehicles have on the environment, as NEVs continue to grow in the automotive sector as a whole. Contact online >>
The Chinese government has released a plan to reduce the impact that batteries used in new energy vehicles have on the environment, as NEVs continue to grow in the automotive sector as a whole.
According to a five-year plan for developing the circular economy released by the National Development and Reform Commission earlier this month, China will step up building a traceability management system for NEV batteries.
More measures will be taken to encourage NEV manufacturers to set up recycling service networks by themselves or in cooperation with upstream and downstream industry players.
If the heavy metals contained in power batteries are recycled improperly, it poses severe challenges to the environment, which is against the eco-friendly intention of NEVs, insiders said.
By the end of 2020, the country had 4.92 million NEVs on its roads, of which 4 million were electric cars. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers estimates that NEV sales will surpass 2.4 million units this year.
Data from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center shows the country''s total of decommissioned power batteries reached some 200,000 metric tons by the end of last year, given the life span of power batteries is usually about six to eight years.
The center forecasts that decommissioned power batteries will reach 780,000 tons by 2025 and the power of the batteries needed to be recycled will reach 137.4 gigawatt-hours, or around 110 tons.
According to a report by Everbright Securities, the recycling of ternary and lithium-ion phosphate batteries will generate a market worth 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) by 2030.
The statistics from QCC, an enterprise credit rating system, show that 9,435 power battery recycling-related companies were registered in the first half of this year, 26 times that of the same period in 2020.
The power battery market nowadays is similar to the NEV market years ago, which shows a positive development trend but also needs more policy coordination and regulation to become more market-led, Lu said.
He said the industry should build a responsibility mechanism and cooperation standards covering raw materials for batteries, car companies, battery after-sales service and battery recycling.
Battery suppliers and carmakers have advantages in recycling batteries, he added, with high-quality battery enterprises having the corresponding upstream and downstream resources of the industry.
Car companies have the responsibility to establish a battery after-sales and recycling system. They have the ability to require raw materials, battery manufacturers and professional third parties to jointly build a standardized and environmentally friendly battery recycling system, Lu said.
"Currently, the EV battery recycling industry still encounters problems like irregular recycling methods, low recycling and utilization rates, safety issues, relatively high recycling costs and difficulties in material separation for recycling end-of-life batteries," Zheng said.
Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University, said many retired NEV batteries have been used in power storage facilities. "Cascade utilization of power batteries makes up an important part of the circular economy," Lin said.
Zheng said that for batteries recycled through cascade utilization, there are many technical barriers. The assessment accuracy of the residual value of retired batteries is not high, and the lack of historical data of retired batteries makes it difficult to fully evaluate their performance and reliability.
"In addition, there are no sound standards and regulations to guarantee battery dismantling, transportation and recycling during the process of cascade utilization at present. As a result, many companies are reluctant to step into the sector to avoid losses caused from accidents," Zheng said.
"Currently, the government is calling for more efforts from electric bicycle producers to recycle batteries retired from their own products. However, a majority of them lack required technology and ability."
Zheng said: "Owing to the poor performance and high safety risks of batteries that were in the market in previous years, very few of them can be recycled for secondary use. Thus, many recyclers were competing for limited resources and drove up recycling costs, leaving little room to make profits."
In terms of end-of-life battery disposal, the industry currently lacks sufficient evaluation mechanisms to determine residual values, as it is in need of standards and regulations for recycling. Many retired batteries are processed through illegal channels. This severely pollutes the environment, Zheng said.
In addition, the cost of disposing of end-of-life batteries is still relatively high as the process requires high-level techniques of dismantling lithium batteries to avoid risks of explosion and pollution caused by cobalt, a toxic metal contained within, Zheng said.
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