Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stepped up research and introduced battery recycling program

Relevant persons close to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told the China Securities Journal that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is stepping up research and development of a power battery recycling program, and the relevant policies are expected to be released in 2018. The agency expects that the waste power battery recycling market will begin to erupt in 2018, with a scale of 5 billion Yuan. At present, automobile manufacturers and power battery manufacturers are all in the recycling industry to grasp the layout.

Power battery scrapping tide is coming

In recent years, the amount of new energy vehicle market has exploded. According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2017, the domestic output of new energy vehicles was 794,000, and the sales volume was 777,000, ranking first in the world for three consecutive years. According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security, as of the end of 2017, the number of new energy vehicles in the country reached 1.53 million, accounting for 0.7% of the total number of vehicles. According to the national “13th Five-Year Plan” new energy vehicle plan, the annual production and sales volume of new energy vehicles will reach 5 million by 2020.

As one of the core components of new energy vehicles, the power battery has risen. According to the China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association data, the domestic new energy vehicle loading power battery reached 37.06GWh in 2017, an increase of 21.5%.

"The life of the power battery is generally 5-8 years. The new energy battery that was put into the market in the early stage is basically at the critical point of elimination. This means that the power battery will enter a large-scale scrapping wave from this year and next." China Recycling Resources Recycling Association scrapped Zhang Ying, secretary-general of the car branch, told the China Securities Journal.

According to the prediction of China Automotive Technology and Research Center, combined with the years of automobile scrapping, power battery life and other factors, from 2018 to 2020, the total number of scrapped power batteries in the country will reach 120,000-200,000 tons; by 2025, the annual report of power batteries will be scrapped or reached the scale of 350,000 tons.

The industry expects that in 2018, the waste power battery recycling market will reach 5 billion Yuan. From 2020 to 2023, the scale of the waste power battery recycling market will further increase to 13.6 billion Yuan - 31.1 billion Yuan.

Since 2016, a series of policy specifications have been issued for the recycling of used power batteries. In January 2016, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Commerce, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine jointly issued the “Technical Policy for Recycling and Utilization of Electric Vehicles for Power Vehicles”, requiring the extension of the producer responsibility system. It is clear that the production enterprise is the main body of recycling responsibility, and it is required to establish a new energy vehicle power battery traceability information management system to track and record the recycling and utilization of power batteries.

In May 2017, the National Standardization Administration approved the publication of the “Dismantling Specifications” and decided to implement it on December 1, 2017. Relevant persons in the power battery industry believe that the "Dismantling Specifications" have improved the industry specifications to a certain extent, and have strict requirements on the safety, operation procedures, storage and management of waste power battery recycling. However, the biggest factor that restricts the recycling of current used batteries, that is, the size and size of the battery model is still not covered.

In November 2017, the Interim Measures for the Administration of Recycling and Utilization of Power Battery for New Energy Vehicles (referred to as the “Interim Measures”) were publicized. Yunhu Gao, Director of the Department of Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will speed up the implementation of the Interim Measures for the Management of New Energy Vehicles' Power Battery Recycling, Promote the Construction of Standard System, Build a Comprehensive Management Platform for National Monitoring and Power Battery Recycling and Traceability of New Energy Vehicles, and Actively Explore Technology A diversified recycling model with strong economy and friendly resources.

Yuke Li, deputy director of the Automotive Industry Policy Research Office of China Automotive Technology and Research Center, told the China Securities Journal that the interim measures are expected to be introduced in 2018. “The focus will be on ensuring the orderly return of used power batteries to formal recycling companies.”

It is more difficult to use the cascade

In general, when the power battery capacity of a new energy vehicle is reduced to about 80%, the power battery will be eliminated. At this time, the power battery can still be applied to the energy storage equipment through the cascade utilization mode, and is put into commercial residential energy storage stations, electric vehicle charging energy storage stations, and telecommunication base stations. In addition to the use of cascades, the used power battery can be dismantled, crushed, smelted, recycled, and recycled. “Cascade utilization can be seen as a link in recycling, and recycling is the final link.” Li Yuke said.

At present, many battery companies are beginning to explore the recycling and utilization patterns. Although the recycling of waste recycling-recycling-recycling is the best recycling route for power batteries, the early stage of battery production and design does not fully consider the recycling route, coupled with the unstable performance, complexity and working conditions of used batteries. Differently, the above recycling route still has some difficulty.

Shizhong Xia, general manager of Camel Group Battery Research Institute Co., Ltd. told China Securities Journal that the current domestic battery recycling technology is mainly based on recycling and has broad commercial prospects. From the perspective of battery types, the power battery is mainly composed of lithium iron phosphate battery and ternary battery. The content of precious metal in lithium iron phosphate is small, and the content of main metals such as nickel, cobalt and manganese in ternary materials accounts for 12%, 3% and 5%, respectively, and the total metal content is as high as 47%, which has high recycling value. The commercial profit model of waste ternary battery recycling and utilization is basically mature.

Gome Beauty Secretary Mingzhi Ouyang said that the use of cascade technology in China is not yet mature, and there are limitations such as high production costs, difficulty in pack disassembly, rapid detection of used batteries, and ambiguity of responsibility.

Jian Li, a professor at Central South University, believes that cascade utilization can significantly reduce costs through modular design. At the same time, if the cost of the cascade is properly controlled, the price will be close to that of the lead-acid battery, which can be applied in the field of low-speed electric vehicles. "At present, more than 90% of low-speed electric vehicles use lead-acid batteries, indicating that the price of lead-acid batteries is recognized. If the price of lithium-ion batteries after the cascade utilization is similar to that of lead-acid batteries, and the performance is more advantageous, replace the lead-acid battery. It is operational."

Under the multi-power drive, since 2017, a number of new energy auto industry chain companies have begun to lay out the field of battery recycling. Judging from the current situation, the prototype of the lithium battery material system, the power battery system, and the third-party organization has basically formed. Taking GEM as an example, the company built a city-centered power battery recycling and dismantling system, and established waste power battery recycling centers in Tianjin, Wuhan, Henan, Wuxi, and Shenzhen. At the same time, we will build recycling networks with automobile manufacturers, power battery manufacturers, recycling companies, and scrap car recycling companies to build a recycling network for used power batteries.

In addition, camel shares, BYD, Ningde era, Huayou Cobalt, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, AVIC Lithium and other lithium battery companies and battery manufacturers, have launched a layout in the field of power battery recycling.

In June 2017, Camel announced that it will jointly invest 50 million Yuan with Jia Lei, chairman of Anhui Taihe Changjiang Metal Materials Co., Ltd., to establish a joint venture company specializing in recycling and processing of used batteries. At the same time, the company built a 500-ton annual power battery recycling pilot demonstration line. According to the scrapping cycle of used power batteries, it is planned to lay out waste power battery recycling lines in the electric vehicle industry dense areas such as North China, Central China, East China and South China.

According to industry analysts, from the perspective of battery manufacturers, the use of self-built or third-party agencies to deploy waste power battery ladders helps to alleviate the pressure on upstream materials and the pressure on downstream automakers. From the perspective of lithium battery materials companies, the recycling of power batteries can expand the supply channels of raw materials, guarantee the supply of raw materials, reduce procurement costs, improve profitability, further improve the industrial chain, and create a closed loop of material systems.

Opportunities and challenges coexist

The power battery recycling industry faces multiple opportunities and challenges. The recycling value of used batteries is to extract metal resources from them. When the price of primary metals is at a high level, companies are more motivated to recycle battery waste through recycling.

Driven by the rapid development of the new energy automobile industry chain, the prices of upstream raw materials have continued to rise in recent years. Taking lithium carbonate as an example, before October 2015, the price has been kept below 50,000 Yuan / ton, and then rose rapidly and maintained at a high level of 120,000 Yuan / ton or more, up to 170,000 Yuan / ton or more; The large-scale application of ternary material batteries in the field of passenger cars and logistics vehicles has greatly increased the demand for cobalt. The price of cobalt has been rising rapidly. It has risen rapidly from 180,000 Yuan/ton in 2016 to 500,000 Yuan/ton, an increase of nearly 3 times. .

In terms of policy, the Ministry of Environmental Protection clearly stated that the power battery recycling and dismantling enterprises do not need special qualifications and are currently open to all enterprises. "Qualification is not a problem, and there are subsidy expectations. In this context, many capitals have been involved in this field." Shizhong Xia said.

From the current situation, the use of used power battery cascades is difficult. "This is not only a problem of insufficient scale of used power batteries, but also technical problems such as non-destructive disassembly, residual life detection, system integration, etc., which affects the profit model of cascade utilization." Yuke Li said that speeding up the study of power battery cascade utilization and gradually realize the commercial use of cascades will be the next focus of industrial development.

Shizhong Xia believes that the most important factor restricting the development of power battery recycling is the high cost. The power battery pack belongs to the ninth category of dangerous goods, and the transportation process should comply with the relevant provisions on the transportation of dangerous goods. From the current situation, the cost of recycling batteries actually accounts for only 50% to 60% of the total cost, and the cost of 40%-50% is in transportation and labor. In addition, the storage and circulation links are not smooth enough, and the recycling system still needs to be improved. From the development path of domestic batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries are used earlier, and the technology is relatively more mature, and is widely used in commercial vehicles. However, the battery consumption is relatively faster, so the scrap time is higher than the ternary battery. At present, the recovery of lithium iron phosphate and lithium manganate urgently requires subsidies and other policies to promote the development of the industry.

Some people who do not want to be named pointed out that the implementation rules for incentives for recycling and recycling of power batteries should be formulated. The battery recycling enterprises and battery recycling enterprises should provide subsidies and tax incentives according to the number of batteries and capacity, and improve the economy of the recycling and recycling industry.

Yuke Li believes that the current battery and automobile companies recycle power batteries, mainly for the treatment of their own batteries, lack of versatility in technology and mode, and should pay close attention to building a symbiotic and win-win recycling system. In the future, the capital-intensive and technology-intensive waste power battery recycling industry cluster will become a development trend, and small enterprises with backward technology will be eliminated. (China Securities Journal)

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