China’s EV makers to incorporate battery recycling as Beijing looks to tackle growing waste

Name: Terrifying moment when electric scooter battery explodes at home
Uploaded: 2021-03-18T18:00:11.000Z
Duration: 53 s
Description: Terrifying moment when electric scooter battery explodes at home

A total of 7.05 million tonnes of EV lithium-ion batteries are expected to go offline between 2021 and 2030, according to Greenpeace

China is keen to prevent unchecked and unregulated disposal of lithium-ion batteries as the extraction of lithium and other materials could harm the environment

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Workers at Xinwangda Electric Vehicle Battery’s factory, which makes lithium batteries for electric cars and other uses, in Nanjing, eastern Jiangsu province. Photo: AFP

Pearl LiuandDaniel Ren

Published: 2:00am, 19 Mar 2021Updated: 10:50am, 19 Mar 2021

An increasing number of electric vehicle makers in China will undertake recycling of battery packs as Beijing pushes them to build facilities to tackle the waste and stamp out a growing source of pollution as the waste starts piling up in the next three to five years, market observers said.

“The landscape of powered battery recycling will definitely change by 2025 and EV makers have to start making plans now if they haven’t as yet,” said Rachel Miu, auto analyst with DBS. “We are not seeing a big amount for now, but it is known for sure that it will grow along with the widespread adoption of cars powered by battery packs.”

A total of 7.05 million tonnes of EV lithium-ion batteries are expected to go offline between 2021 and 2030, according to Greenpeace, weighing about 1,000 times the Eiffel Tower.

There is a possibility that this could exceed the forecast. China wants 20 per cent of new cars on the roads to be new-energy vehicles – pure electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell cars – by 2025, or more than 4 million units. UBS predicts NEV sales on the mainland could top 6.6 million that year.

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Terrifying moment when electric scooter battery explodes at home

With China overtaking the US as the world’s largest market for EVs in 2015, the mainland should see the first of retired batteries now as the lifespan of an EV battery ranges from five to eight years.

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