How should scrap electric vehicles be disposed of

Editor's note: the electric vehicle industry is still at a confused stage, the responsibilities in various fields are not yet clear, and the industrial chain has not been initially formed. When the first batch of electric vehicles are about to be scrapped, the situation is not optimistic. Report scrap car "black market" intermingling, scrap car illegal dismantling, formal car dismantling plant will deal with? Power battery recycling problem to be solved, where will end-of-life batteries go? How can the forces of all parties work together to achieve a win-win situation? With these questions, the reporter recently interviewed the China Renewable Resources Recycling Association scrap car recycling and recycling branch secretary general Zhangying.

Solving Recovery Problem of Battery Closed Loop System

China Energy News: Is the electric car sold in 2013 in a retirement period? What to do after power battery is scrapped?

Zhangying: since last year, electric vehicles have entered their retirement period, but in a smaller number. At present, the market's treatment of power cells follows the principle of "first step utilization, then dismantling and recycling". According to regulations, the scrap auto factory does not have the qualification to handle batteries and can only dismantle and collect them. There are two main ways to deal with the dismantled power cells: First, ladder utilization, mainly for power cells with good safety performance, dismantling, sorting, packaging and testing, and other processes, in the field of energy storage and low-speed battery vehicles Echelon utilization; The second is the recycling of resources, which is mainly aimed at power cells that have no ladder value, and the use of resource regeneration technology to achieve the regeneration of positive and negative materials, and the extraction of precious metals such as cobalt, nickel, and copper. This is the business responsibility of the next stage. Dismantling and dismantling are two concepts.

China Energy News: The policy requires car companies to be responsible for the recovery of end-of-life batteries, but car companies are not responsible for the production and reuse of batteries. Is it necessary for car companies to participate in the recycling process?

Zhangying: Because of the extended producer responsibility system, car companies must assume the responsibility of reverse logistics. As a service association in the scrap vehicle dismantling industry, we hope to be able to track the waste vehicle resources to do a good job in industrial docking services. However, because the current use of new energy battery terraces is still in the exploration stage, the market is not yet mature, and the battery's residual energy detection and echelon utilization We can only assist. For manufacturers, especially battery manufacturers, recycling represents the control of resources, and it is a good thing that the recycling end can be in their hands.

The closed loop of batteries from production to recycling is a particularly good thing for our field. Only the relatively mature mechanism can avoid the problems that society is worried about.

China Energy News: How long does it take to form a more mature closed-loop system?

Zhangying: There are a lot of things missing from the closed loop, such as the division of responsibility between the car product and the main machine factory, the recycling participation role, and so on. According to the management method, the battery is a paid recovery, and the main machine factory needs to purchase batteries from the car scrapping plant, but who is responsible for this link? Does the main machine plant entrust a third party or collect it in person? These problems are not yet clear and can only be guided in the general direction.

China Energy News: What is the biggest obstacle to building a closed-loop system?

Zhangying: I think it's policy and top-level design. The division of responsibilities and obligations of market participants is not clear, the market lacks compliant participants and has not yet formed upstream and downstream integration of the industrial chain.

Illegal dismantling and punishment unknown

China Energy News: At present, the recycling situation of formal dismantling plants is not optimistic. According to statistics, the recovery rate is still less than 30 %. How do you think formal scrap car companies should improve the recovery rate and utilization rate?

Zhangying: So far the development of the scrap car industry, the biggest pain point in the market is low recycling, recycling prices do not have a competitive advantage, living on subsidies is still the normal industry. The formal scrap car enterprises should set up recovery outlets in a reasonable way, and flexibly price according to the residual value and recyclable value of the vehicles, improve the dismantling ability of the enterprises, and fine dismantling and classification of scrapped vehicles to increase the output value. In addition, it can also use the information management model to innovate the recovery model and transaction model and actively participate in market competition.

In addition to enterprises, the construction of laws and regulations related to scrap vehicles should also be strengthened. The current cost of illegal dismantling is too low. The disposal of the illegal dismantling of scrap vehicles is not clear enough and can not be based on laws.

China Energy News: Some organizations estimate that in 2018, China's scrap volume will exceed 7 million vehicles, and it is expected to exceed 13 million vehicles in 2019. Facing such a current situation, the car scrap market is bound to be refined dismantling, rationalization of the cycle of the route. What progress, in your opinion, has been made in this area in our country?

Zhangying: A new version of the Measures for the Management of Recycle of End-of-Life Vehicles is expected to be published this year. The introduction and implementation of the new management measures will further advance the institutional reform of the scrap car recycling industry, guide the scrap car industry to an orderly, standardized and market-oriented development model, and push the scrapping of scrap vehicles on the right track to seek root causes. At the same time, the establishment of demonstration bases for re manufacturing industries in the four major countries of Lingang, Changsha, Zhangjiagang and Hejian in Shanghai has promoted the development of re manufacturing industries; We encouraged a number of re-manufacturing enterprises to take the lead and form a number of influential re-manufacturing enterprises for automobile parts and components.

China Energy News: How to Further Promote Market Development?

Zhangying: We will strengthen top-level design, fully implement the extended producer responsibility system, strengthen the principal responsibility of automobile manufacturers, and promote the rational recycling of end-of-life vehicles. The law further improves policies, regulations and management mechanisms to encourage market-oriented development. We will strengthen industry supervision and crack down on grey transactions. We will promote the certification plan for the recycling of auto parts and components, promote the free circulation of recycled parts and components, give full play to the market competition mechanism, and reasonably reduce the tax burden of formal scrap auto enterprises.

Win-win situation requires multiple alliances

China Energy News: What model do you think should be established between car companies, car owners, charging pile companies and recycling companies in the field of electric vehicles to achieve a win-win situation?

Zhangying: car companies, owners, charging pile companies and recycling companies jointly establish a full-life management system for electric vehicles to form a win-win situation. First, through joint recycling enterprises, car companies should jointly set up an electric vehicle recycling network to achieve the full life cycle management of electric vehicles and fulfill the extended producer responsibility system; We should adopt a reasonable system such as deposit system, so as to encourage the owner to send the scrapped electric car to the car recycling outlets in accordance with the regulations and improve the resource utilization rate of the scrapped car.

China Energy News: What are the reasons that currently hinder the formation of this model?

Zhangying: The market lacks the restraint to allow car owners to take the initiative to send end-of-life electric vehicles to recycling outlets. The lack of clarity in the rights and responsibilities of car companies and recycling companies makes it difficult to establish a unified power battery recovery system.

Due to the inconsistent model and parameters of the early production of batteries, the problem faced by the current echelon utilization is that there is no unified standard for power batteries, and there are still difficulties in large-scale centralized use.

The win-win situation requires a combination of multiple market players to manage the reverse system, whether it is laddering or recycling and dismantling. The premise is to monitor the flow of used batteries and ensure that they can eventually be concentrated in manufacturers with formal qualifications. The entire industry operates under a healthy and orderly mechanism. Naturally, a win-win situation will emerge.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.