Solving the problem of power battery recycling in the world

　　With the rapid development of electric vehicles, a large number of power batteries began to retire. How to recycle these batteries to reduce environmental pollution has become an urgent problem facing all countries. At the same time, with the increasing shortage of raw materials such as metals needed to produce power batteries, many large automobile manufacturers and start-ups are also paying close attention to the layout, hoping that the recycling of power batteries can become an effective way to cope with the supply shortage, and all parties hope that related industries can accelerate their development.

　　The capacity of power batteries has expanded rapidly.

　　With the rapid growth of electric vehicle sales and the increasing pressure on automobile manufacturers to change from fuel vehicles to electric vehicles, many countries and regions around the world are accelerating the layout of power battery production capacity.

　　At present, the United States is planning to convert most American-made cars into electric vehicles by 2030, and completely eliminate fuel vehicles by 2040. According to a report by the European environmental protection group Transport and Environment Organization, if the EU introduces stricter greenhouse gas emission regulation policies and provides sufficient support for the construction of charging piles, all new car sales in Europe will be converted into electric vehicles by 2035.

　　According to the data of MarketsandMarkets, the demand for lithium batteries has increased rapidly in the past five years. In 2025, the related market size is expected to increase from 44.2 billion US dollars in 2020 to 94.4 billion US dollars, and the development of electric vehicles will be the main driving force.

　　European governments are now stepping up efforts to support the development of power battery projects to ensure that they can still maintain their dominant position in the field of automobile manufacturing in the future. According to Agence France-Presse, according to the data of the Transportation and Environment Organization, Europe is currently planning to build 38 new super battery factories, with an annual production capacity of 1,000 GWh and an investment of 40 billion euros (about 48 billion US dollars). The planned production capacity will be realized from 2029 to 2030.

　　Many large automobile manufacturers are also increasing their investment in power batteries. According to Agence France-Presse, Volkswagen has recently invested 2.3 billion euros in Swedish startup Northvolt, and plans to build five other power battery factories. The new automobile giant Stratis is currently building two power battery factories. Tesla, an American electric vehicle manufacturer, also plans to build a new power battery super factory in Berlin. It is estimated that the production capacity will reach 250 GWh before 2030.

　　The supply of raw materials may be short.

　　A large number of power battery factories will put forward higher requirements for the supply of raw materials such as metals, and automobile manufacturers must try their best to ensure the supply of raw materials necessary for the production of batteries. It is understood that power batteries account for most of the cost of electric vehicles, while major metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt account for most of the cost of power batteries. The European Commission predicts that by 2030, the demand for lithium will increase by 18% and the demand for cobalt will increase fivefold.

　　Considering the sharp increase in demand, some international organizations have been warning that related mineral raw materials will face shortages in the future. The International Energy Agency said recently that governments need to ensure the supply of key mineral raw materials needed for clean energy technology, otherwise they may face supply bottlenecks and damage the development of electric vehicles, wind power generation and other projects. According to the report of the International Energy Agency, clean energy requires many kinds of raw materials, from lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite to rare earth elements for the production of electric vehicle engines and wind turbines, and each mineral raw material faces different problems. According to the International Energy Agency, in general, the demand for key mineral raw materials in the energy sector will increase sixfold before 2040, and the increasing global response to climate change is increasingly disproportionate to the supply of key mineral raw materials.

　　The report of the International Energy Agency suggests that national policy makers should take actions to ensure the stable supply of key mineral raw materials and set long-term emission reduction targets. The agency also suggested that governments should promote the development of new technologies and invest more in recycling areas to alleviate the main supply pressure.

　　The White House recently made it clear that we must work with our allies to ensure the supply of raw materials such as metals needed for the production of electric vehicles, and environmental protection and other factors should also be taken into account when dealing with them at home. According to Reuters, relevant measures include expanding investment in electric vehicle metal projects through the United States International Development Finance Corporation and taking new measures to support the supply from battery recycling. The Biden administration will also set up a working group to determine where minerals used in power batteries can be produced and processed. The US Department of Energy has been approved to invest $17 billion through the "Advanced Technology Vehicle Production Loan Project" to support related projects, which will focus on battery manufacturer financing, key mineral recovery and treatment. According to the report, ensuring the supply of raw materials for power batteries such as copper and lithium is one of the main obstacles that Biden’s huge electric vehicle development plan is currently encountering. At present, mining projects in the United States are facing extensive regulatory obstacles and environmental resistance.

　　Maros Shevcovic, Vice President of the European Commission, said in March that Europe should strive to achieve strategic independence in the production of power batteries, hoping that Europe can achieve self-sufficiency by 2025. According to Agence France-Presse, a new generation of power battery technology is being developed in Europe, hoping to reduce the dependence on lithium-ion battery technology. In January this year, the European Commission has invested 2.9 billion euros to support related research and development. Europe also hopes to build a more environmentally friendly battery factory, and EU officials are currently formulating relevant standards to regulate the extraction of battery raw materials and how to recycle used batteries.

　　However, Oliver Montick, an analyst at Fitch Consulting, believes that Europe may not establish a "complete closed-loop supply chain covering the extraction, refining, processing and production of most battery raw materials in Europe" until 2040. Montick said that although Germany and the Czech Republic have sustainable lithium metal reserves, the EU should still obtain supplies from reliable partners to ensure supply security.

　　Battery recycling needs to be accelerated.

　　Power battery is considered to be one of the key factors that determine the mileage and performance of electric vehicles. However, with the increase of service life, its performance will obviously decline, the required charging time will be extended and the mileage will be shortened. Some insiders said that the recommended service life of power batteries is generally 5 to 10 years. As a large number of electric vehicles have been put into use, the number of power batteries that need to be replaced will soar rapidly in the near future, and the demand for environmental protection and resource reuse will increase rapidly.

　　Some experts said that some power batteries that can still be used can be used in other scenes with reduced requirements, such as energy storage systems (ESS). For power batteries that can’t be used any more, we can consider recycling them and reuse the resources such as metal elements. At present, the metals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel needed for mining and processing electric vehicles often need to span several continents, and the transportation distance often exceeds 2,000 kilometers. Therefore, recycling and utilizing the raw materials in waste batteries is a more efficient and sustainable way, which can effectively reduce the burden in the fields of mining new mines, mining and processing.

　　Automobile and battery manufacturers and some start-ups have been exploring various ways to deal with waste power batteries, and some new industries and business models are taking shape.

　　According to CNBC, Straubel, former CTO of Tesla, founded Redwood Materials Company in 2017, which focuses on the disposal of electronic waste, and its business includes recycling used batteries, and then providing raw materials extracted from them to automobile manufacturers and battery manufacturers. The company’s first recycling plant in Nevada, USA, has started operation, which can recycle 95% of nickel, cobalt, aluminum and graphite, and more than 80% of lithium in used batteries. Straubel said that in the face of the rapid growth of demand for power batteries, the current supply of raw materials will be difficult to meet the demand, and it is necessary to speed up the investment in "top areas of the food chain", such as the development and recycling of raw materials, and recycling is a very efficient way. On the issue of profitability, Straubel said that the company is still in the initial stage of development, and it still needs to consume a lot of capital to invest in equipment and technology, but in the long run, with the continuous improvement of technology and scale, the company’s business will achieve considerable profits.

　　According to media reports, Ultium Cells, a joint venture between LG Energy Solutions and General Motors, will cooperate with Li-Cycle, a battery recycling company, to recycle batteries from this year. Li-Cycle said that its recycling technology can achieve 80% to 100% recycling of all materials in lithium-ion batteries.

　　According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korean automaker Kia Motors and its battery supplier SK Innovation will jointly develop a power battery recycling project. It is reported that SK Innovation provides lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles such as EV6 of Kia Motors. As early as March, 2020, the two companies have begun to cooperate in the utilization of waste power batteries, and said that they will cooperate in the treatment and reuse of waste power batteries through energy storage systems, or recycle the metals in waste power batteries, which will help reduce production costs. SK Innovation also said that in addition to the potential economic benefits, recycling waste power batteries can also reduce the number of buried waste batteries, thus reducing the pollution of soil and groundwater.

　　The market related to raw material recycling in power batteries is expected to usher in rapid growth in the next few years. According to CNBC, data show that the global lithium recycling market will increase from $1.5 billion in 2019 to $18.1 billion in 2030.

　　Some experts said that if the power battery recycling industry wants to accelerate its development, it needs closer cooperation between the electric vehicle industry and the government to help collect batteries with different models and performances, accelerate relevant scientific research projects, formulate relevant standards, simplify the recycling and utilization procedures of used batteries, and reverse the current situation of low recycling rate of used batteries at an early date.

　　Some governments are also supporting related innovation activities in various forms. According to Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean government is now partially relaxing the supervision of used batteries by way of "supervision sandbox", so as to allow automobile manufacturers and battery manufacturers to use these batteries to innovate products, services, marketing and business models. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea plans to invest 1.3 billion won (about 1.5 million US dollars) before 2024 to conduct experiments on the utilization of used batteries, such as renewable energy projects.

　　Jin Shizhen, a researcher at the Korea Automobile Technology Association, said that with the accelerated popularization of electric vehicles, a large number of power batteries will be retired in South Korea from 2026, and by 2030, about 100,000 electric vehicles will need to be replaced. Jin Shiyi said that in order to accelerate the development of the battery recycling industry, it is necessary to speed up the establishment of standards such as waste battery collection, speed up the research and development of related processing technologies, and refine the requirements for battery quality and performance.