Despite the promising prospects of the power battery recycling market and the established recycling principles, Wang Bo believes that the power battery recycling business is not easy to run.
According to Yun Qiang, the tiered utilization and recycling of end-of-life batteries is not a simple matter. Currently, the recycling of power batteries for new energy vehicles involves many issues, such as unresolved technical and environmental problems, unclear recycling and profit models, and limited recycling channels, all of which are pain points in the market.
"In terms of recycling technology, the wide variety of battery models and inconsistent technical approaches inevitably lead to high sorting costs and difficult dismantling, so not every company can carry out recycling. In addition, the lack of rapid testing methods and the low yield rate of re-integration will also seriously affect the enthusiasm of power battery recycling companies," said Wang Bo.
A recent map search in Beijing revealed numerous companies and individuals that recycle used batteries and storage batteries, but very few specifically recycle power lithium batteries.
Some waste recycling professionals told reporters, "Lead-acid batteries can be disassembled directly, and the lead plates inside can be sold for money, but we don't know how to process lithium batteries, so we generally don't collect them."
Besides the technical hurdles, the recycling channels for used batteries are also a major problem for companies.
According to the aforementioned GEM employee, the main sources of battery recycling are partnerships with vehicle manufacturers and battery producers to process battery packs scrapped during the R&D process and those retired from vehicles. Since automakers are primarily responsible, it's difficult to recycle batteries from other channels besides these two methods, resulting in a relatively small overall volume of recycled end-of-life batteries.
Industry insiders generally believe that traditional plastic, paper, and metal recycling have formed a closed loop from production to recycling to reuse, and these recycling companies do not need to find waste themselves. However, power battery recycling obviously does not reach the closed loop of traditional material recycling.
Furthermore, an effective market profit model has not yet been established, which makes it difficult to motivate recycling companies to engage in the recycling of power batteries.
Data shows that the price of secondary power batteries is 65% to 85% of the price of energy storage lithium batteries. Yun Qiang analyzed for Legal Weekly that, from a profit perspective alone, the revenue cannot fully cover the costs incurred by companies in recycling, transportation, storage, and material decomposition processes.
"The primary prerequisite for battery recycling is to avoid environmental pollution. At the same time, significant capital investment is required in battery dismantling and material recycling processes. These factors can lead to insufficient motivation for recycling companies, making government subsidies and tax incentives crucial," said Yun Qiang.
