In recent years, the proportion of new energy vehicles in passenger cars has continued to rise. By the end of 2024, the national ownership has reached 31.4 million vehicles, and the installed capacity of power batteries has been the world’s leading for many years.
As the first batch of batteries gradually reach the eight-year warranty period, and various new energy vehicle replacement subsidy policies are implemented, my country is about to usher in a round of concentrated retirement peak of power batteries. A report predicts that by 2030, the scale of the power battery recycling market will exceed 100 billion yuan. How can these batteries be efficiently recycled and greenly used?
1. Gradually reaching the 8-year warranty period, the first batch of new energy vehicle batteries are facing elimination
According to the regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other relevant departments, since 2016, passenger car manufacturers must provide at least 8 years or 120,000 kilometers of warranty for the three core components of batteries, motors, and electronic controls. By the end of last year, it was exactly 8 years, which means that the first batch of new energy vehicles that enjoy the policy have gradually entered the warranty period.
At the same time, as new models continue to upgrade in terms of endurance, functions, safety, etc., many car owners choose to change their cars in advance before the warranty period approaches.
In August last year, the Ministry of Commerce and seven other ministries raised the subsidy standard for scrapping and updating cars. For individual consumers who scrapped old cars and purchased new energy passenger cars within a specified period, the subsidy per car increased from 15,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan.
In January this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance further clarified that individuals who scrapped new energy vehicles registered before December 31, 2018 and purchased designated models can enjoy a subsidy of 20,000 yuan per vehicle.
Replacing a new car can not only enjoy the subsidy policy, but also avoid problems such as battery life attenuation, slow charging, and reduced safety. Taking this opportunity, many new energy vehicle owners decided to upgrade their old cars.
2. Improper disposal may lead to waste of resources, and efficient and safe recycling of waste batteries is crucial
Whether it is individual users exchanging old for new, or the concentrated retirement of operating vehicles such as buses and online ride-hailing vehicles, it means that a large number of power batteries will be eliminated. It is estimated that by 2030, the total amount of retired batteries in my country will exceed 3.5 million tons.
These batteries contain heavy metals and chemicals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. If they are not properly handled, it will not only be a waste of resources, but may also cause safety accidents such as electric shock and explosion, and pollute the soil, water, and air. Therefore, how to efficiently and safely recycle these waste batteries has become a must-answer question to support the sustainable development of the new energy industry.
In addition, Hu Song, a senior researcher at China Automotive Data Co., Ltd., said that my country’s external dependence on cobalt, nickel, and manganese exceeds 90%. If resources cannot be recycled, they will face the problem of “stuck neck” in the future.
Experts pointed out that the actual retirement cycle of power batteries is often more than 5 years later than the industry estimate of the 8-year warranty. In other words, the real large-scale retirement wave will gradually come after 2030.
Now is the window period for industrial layout. How to build a safe, efficient, and sustainable recycling and utilization system before the retirement tide comes is crucial. So, how will a “retired” power battery be recycled and reused to start its second life journey?
The first step in power battery recycling is to complete the code scanning registration and upload it to the national unified traceability platform at the same time. Afterwards, they were sent to different workshops for discharge, disassembly and capacity testing in turn.
At present, there are two main ways to use “retired” batteries, cascade utilization and recycling, and capacity testing is a key step in determining which path they will eventually take.
The so-called capacity testing is to give each battery a physical examination to measure how much power it can still store.
If the battery capacity is measured to be less than 60% of the marked capacity, it is considered to have no value for cascade utilization;
For batteries with a capacity higher than 60%, they will be allocated to products for cascade utilization according to the needs of different projects.
Before the capacity testing, it is necessary to disassemble battery packs of different models, sizes and complex structures without loss. In the past, this work mainly relied on manual operation, which was not only inefficient, but also had risks such as short circuit and fire.
Now, the newly upgraded flexible intelligent disassembly production line has solved the previous problems. The application of flexible intelligent disassembly technology has enabled the power battery to achieve zero thermal runaway during the disassembly process, and the overall disassembly efficiency has increased by 50%.
After capacity testing, cells with a capacity higher than 60% are judged to have a cascade utilization value. They are sent to this automated production line for reassembly and packaging, and continue to “serve” in equipment or scenarios that do not require high energy density.
The seemingly inconspicuous waste batteries have huge potential for a second life in the eyes of technicians. After screening and evaluation, the cells are widely used in many fields such as home and enterprise energy storage systems, low-speed electric vehicles, backup power supplies, engineering machinery, etc., covering dozens of application scenarios.
According to technicians, as long as the cells used normally at the front end are strictly evaluated and meet the quality standards, combined with scientific whole-package design, they can generally extend their life by at least 1 to 5 years, truly making the best use of them.
3. The standardized recycling rate of batteries is not high, and a large number of retired batteries are “handled privately”
Despite the continuous advancement of recycling technology and the gradual improvement of the policy system, according to a survey and research report by the Development Research Center of the State Council, by the end of 2023, the standardized recycling rate of power batteries for new energy vehicles in China will be less than 25%. A large number of retired batteries did not flow into formal channels, but were dismantled and sold or even disposed of privately. What is the reason that these batteries cannot go the right way? Luo Laixin, recycling director of GEM (Wuhan) Urban Mining Industry Group, said that batteries sold to private enterprises or individual black workshops can be sold without tax invoices, and a battery may be worth thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan. Most of the cars they recycled did not have batteries, accounting for more than 70 to 80 percent of the total. Industry insiders told reporters that there is a general dilemma in my country’s power battery recycling industry. Compliant companies abide by the rules but find it difficult to make money, while non-compliant small workshops have low costs and high returns. Formal companies operate in accordance with national standards and must continue to invest in plant construction, equipment updates, safety and environmental protection, and technology research and development. The cost is high and the return is slow. However, many unqualified small workshops take another path: almost no environmental protection treatment is done, and the batteries are dismantled in the simplest and crudest way, which not only pollutes the environment and poses safety hazards, but also seizes waste battery resources by raising the purchase price. In response to the long recycling chain and complex flow of power batteries, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other competent departments have continued to strengthen source management and full-process supervision, and have successively issued policy documents, clearly stating that enterprises must establish a quality assurance mechanism with traceable products and accountability.
4. How to achieve the rebirth of retired batteries, and make the whole process monitorable and traceable?
In the battery production workshop of a battery manufacturer in Ningde, Fujian, each battery cell off the line has an exclusive QR code, just like its ID card, recording key information such as production time, environmental conditions, and performance parameters. If an abnormality occurs, the traceability information can be retrieved at any time.
At the same time, relying on big data analysis, this information can also provide technical support for the optimization and upgrading of batteries. When these batteries are assembled into battery packs, they will be equipped with new traceability codes to achieve more complete full life cycle tracking.
In this new energy vehicle manufacturer, the vehicle will bind the information of the vehicle and the battery pack before the battery pack is equipped. After the battery pack and vehicle information are bound, the relevant information is then uploaded to the national new energy vehicle battery traceability management platform, and the power battery enters the full life cycle supervision. From vehicle installation, use to retirement and recycling, every step can be clearly recorded.
In February this year, the State Council Executive Meeting reviewed and approved the action plan to improve the recycling system of new energy vehicle power batteries, proposing to strengthen the management of the entire chain, focus on clearing bottlenecks and card points, and build a standardized, safe and efficient recycling system. This is a future-oriented systematic project, which not only requires corporate responsibility and raising technical barriers, but also uses digital means to improve the visual management capabilities of the entire life cycle.
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