I. A Multi-Billion Dollar Blue Ocean for Lithium-Ion Battery Pack Recycling
In recent years, the number of new energy vehicles on the road has been increasing daily, and the demand for power lithium batteries, the core component of new energy vehicles, has naturally risen accordingly. In 2017, my country's sales of new energy vehicles exceeded 700,000 units. It is estimated that by 2020, global sales of new energy vehicles will approach 5 million, with 2 million units in my country and 1 million units in the United States. Globally, new energy vehicles are showing a sustained upward trend.
It is estimated that by 2020, the total amount of used lithium-ion battery packs in my country will reach approximately 200,000 tons. Industry forecasts show that the used lithium-ion battery recycling market reached 5 billion yuan in 2018, and is expected to further increase to 13.6-31.1 billion yuan from 2020 to 2023, indicating a very promising market prospect.
II. Lithium-ion battery recycling methods: cascade utilization and dismantling recycling
The so-called "secondary utilization" refers to the process of reusing high-power batteries after testing them for use in low-power applications. The principle is similar to the claim in a battery advertisement: a battery used in a toy car can still be used in a remote control. Currently, secondary utilization only targets lightly worn-out lithium-ion batteries for use in low-power electrical equipment, achieving a secondary use. Batteries that have reached a severely worn-out state after secondary utilization will then be dismantled and recycled.
Dismantling and recycling, as the name suggests, involves dismantling, separating, purifying, and smelting waste batteries using chemical methods to recover and reuse the lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and other metal elements in the battery cells.
III. The Importance of Recycling Retired Lithium-ion Battery Packs:
(1) Cascade utilization can realize the secondary application of retired power lithium-ion battery packs in the energy storage field, with huge downstream application potential and is also a recycling method that is strongly supported by policies. Automakers and battery manufacturers have inherent advantages, but they also face the dilemma of high recycling costs for retired batteries. At the same time, this approach has extremely high requirements for battery consistency, and some demonstration projects are currently in operation;
(2) Dismantling and recycling is an important current method for recycling retired lithium-ion battery packs. Among them, wet recycling has the highest degree of commercialization. Against the backdrop of rising raw material prices, locking in upstream raw material prices through recycling and production will be an important way for battery material manufacturers to reduce costs in the future.
