The moves are a testament to the explosive growth in China’s EV battery production capacity and rapid technological innovations.

Factors including extensive supply chains and a strong talent pool have seen China rise to become the world’s top EV battery producer, accounting for more than 60 per cent of the global market last year.

The industry has been hailed for its hi-tech and low-carbon image backed by advanced manufacturing.

01:11

China’s BYD overtakes Tesla as world’s largest EV maker

China’s BYD overtakes Tesla as world’s largest EV maker

But investigations by health authorities in various parts of China in recent years have found that EV battery production can involve high noise and dust levels, and the release of chemical toxins, laser radiation, and other harmful elements.

Their findings have shed light on the lesser-known health impact of the rapidly developing industry as China chases its zero-carbon goals.

Occupational disease risks have always been classified as “serious” in battery manufacturing, said a researcher at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Chongqing who did not wish to be named.

A 2019 study by researchers from institutions including the China Academy of Safety Science and Technology, a government-run work safety body, found battery manufacturing to be one of China’s top sectors with frequent incidents of “group poisoning” since the early 1990s.

However, the Chongqing CDC researcher emphasised that occupational health hazards were lower for EV batteries than for traditional products such as lead-acid batteries, thanks to the higher level of automation and more advanced technology at work.

The Post contacted China’s top EV battery makers CATL and BYD with a request to visit their factories. But it has yet to receive a response from CATL and was turned down by BYD.

BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, was born in 2003 and overtook Tesla as the world’s top producer of electric cars this year. It is also the No 2 global producer of EV batteries, behind CATL, or Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd.

Frontline workers exposed to the potential risks in the EV sector have expressed their concerns. On the online forum “Zhihu”, the Chinese version of Quora, many users have asked whether working in a power battery factory would harm their health.

One user shared in 2021 that she worked in a factory producing cathode materials for lithium batteries. Most of today’s all-electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries, though the exact composition often varies from that of batteries for consumer electronics.

The poster said her eyes and throat always stung from exposure to chemical dust, adding: “I don’t dare to stay [in the factory] any more.” She ended up quitting after just five months.

Noise levels are also a concern, with frequent or loud noise proven to induce anxiety or stress. Another user posting the same year said that after working in a noisy battery factory for three months, he suffered a nervous breakdown over health fears and some hearing loss because of the high decibel levels.

The findings of some scientists and public health workers justify such concerns.

A study published in the Chinese academic journal Occupational Health and Emergency Rescue in December identified potential occupational health hazards at a lithium battery manufacturing plant in Taixing, in eastern Jiangsu province.

The findings were based on an on-site investigation carried out by researchers from the local arm of the CDC, a national public health body.

The plant set up in 2016 produces 400 million amp-hours of power lithium batteries annually across four production lines – employing 114 workers in all.

Lithium battery production involves multiple steps, broadly including the processing of raw materials into electrode plates, and then turning those plates into unactivated battery cells. After charging and capacity testing, the batteries are packaged and stored.

The research team found several chemical hazards at the plant. For instance, workers producing electrode sheets faced risks such as suffocation from soot and graphite dust as they weighed, mixed and stirred the positive and negative electrode materials.

At the welding stations, where the sheets are cut and welded into battery cells as containers for electrolyte, the highest concentration of ozone was found to exceed the occupational exposure limit, a condition classified as a “moderate hazard” under national standards.

At the battery assembly workshop, according to the paper, the average ambient noise level was close to 90 decibels, where the permissible level is below 85, thus posing a “moderate risk”.

“The factory involves activities with a serious occupational risk, and the positions of workers exposed to ozone, hydrogen fluoride and noise warrant special attention,” the authors said, urging sustainable improvements in hazard prevention and emergency rescue facilities, and stronger individual protection.

Tesla to open US battery plant with equipment from China’s CATL

Other global EV battery manufacturers have also faced complaints of failing to meet worker health standards.

South Korea’s LG Energy Solution, which ranks third in the global energy battery market behind CATL and BYD, set up a factory called Ultium Cells in Ohio with General Motors in 2022.

The factory was fined US$270,000 by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in October. OSHA investigators found that the company had failed to train workers on safety and emergency procedures, and also failed to meet federal standards for the use of personal protective equipment, putting staff at risk.

SK On, another South Korean venture which ranks fifth by battery installation volume, had one of its American plants cited for six serious violations and fined US$75,000 by the US Department of Labour last month.

Problems flagged included an average noise level of more than 85 decibels per hour; failure to provide respiratory protection for workers handling nickel, cobalt and manganese; a lack of clean and disinfected masks and showers for workers exposed to corrosive materials, Korean paper Aju Business Daily reported in January.

Technological breakthroughs in producing batteries, especially lithium-ion cells with their higher energy density and longer life cycle, has largely powered the global EV revolution.

Although research into lithium batteries dates back to the 1960s, the technology was not broadly used until Japanese companies commercialised it in the 90s. By 2010, Japan and South Korea accounted for around 80 per cent of the global market share.

However, rivals in China soon began to make rapid inroads and are now unassailable market leaders.

Low-cost batteries from CATL – founded in 2011 – now power one in three EVs worldwide and supply brands from Tesla and BMW to Volkswagen and Ford.

Of these, CATL and BYD together account for more than half the market.

China also has the largest global share of the processing facilities for some key materials that go into EV batteries.

This includes 65 per cent of the world’s lithium, 74 per cent of cobalt and 42 per cent of copper processing units. It is also the only country that processes graphite, another major component of EV cells.

“Solar cells, lithium-ion batteries and EVs have become the ‘new three’ driving China’s exports”, Wan Gang, a former science and technology minister and key figure in China’s development of EVs, said in talking about the export market last year.

03:06

China’s public transport goes green as electric buses hit the streets

China’s public transport goes green as electric buses hit the streets

Chinese EV companies are also speeding up overseas expansion, with several announcing new lithium battery production lines, raw material production and other projects in countries such as Thailand, Europe and the United States in the past two years.

Domestically, many Chinese cities are looking at economic growth powered by the EV industry, including battery plants.

In the mega city of Chongqing, an economic powerhouse in southwestern China, EV battery companies are booming after the local government has set out automobiles, especially new energy vehicles, as a pillar industry.

“China has been carrying out supply-side reforms for the past 10 years or so,” the researcher at the Chongqing CDC said, adding that one of the main goals has been to upgrade the manufacturing industry. This has eliminated a lot of companies that were not up to national production standards.

However, some stages of production were still having an undesirable impact on individuals and society, the researcher said. For instance, the upstream section of the EV industry chain, where lithium ore is mined and related accessories are manufactured, still pose a threat to public health.

From fossil fuels to batteries, the automotive industry’s energy transition has become an irreversible global trend. But the journey has been fraught with controversy, with health risks in manufacturing just one problem.

The mining of lithium, for example, is said to cause significant environmental pollution and is highly water-intensive. In early 2022, a proposed BYD lithium project in Chile was suspended, partly due to opposition from local indigenous people and communities concerned about pollution and wetland degradation.