China Standardizes Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling
From April 1, new national standards for recycling traction batteries of electric vehicles will come into effect in China. A key element of the reform will be a unified state information platform that will allow tracking batteries throughout their entire lifecycle—from production and sale to repair, decommissioning, disassembly, and recycling.
What is known
According to Chinese media, the platform will be created by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the PRC (MIIT). The new requirements for automakers are designed to enhance control over the rapidly growing volume of used batteries.
According to Car News China, the development of recycling is currently held back by a lack of infrastructure, fire risks, and high battery disassembly costs. In 2023, the MIIT, together with the State Administration for Market Regulation, created a special committee to standardize this area. The result was new rules that introduce additional responsibilities for manufacturers, encourage the implementation of advanced recycling technologies, and imply consideration already at the battery design stage.
Portal Autohome, citing Chinese research institutes, notes that by 2030, about 1 million tons of decommissioned vehicle batteries may accumulate in the country. At the same time, the battery recycling market in China is estimated to grow to 558 billion yuan (about 69 billion euros) by 2025.
The largest player in this segment remains Brunp Recycling—a subsidiary of CATL. According to Car News China, it recycles about half of all batteries in the country.
Sources: CarNewsChina, Autohome
