On the Road of Market Recycling of Power Battery: Dismantling Recovery or Echelon Utilization?

Recently, the China Automobile Industry Association released data showing that in the first quarter of 2018, China's sales of new energy vehicles reached 143,300 vehicles, an increase of 154.3 vehicles over the same period of last year. Since 2014, when China's new energy vehicle industry entered the track of rapid development, China's new energy vehicle production and sales have consistently ranked first in the world for three consecutive years. By the end of 2017, the total number of new energy vehicles in China had reached 1.53 million. How to recycle power batteries will be a difficult problem for the new energy car industry to solve, given the coming of the first batch of power batteries.

At present, there are two main ways to "retire" power cells from new energy vehicles: dismantling and recycling, and terracing.

Good market prospects for used battery disassembly and reuse

In industrial developed countries, the recycling industry involving the recycling and dismantling of used and end-of-life batteries has become more mature. For example, SungEelHiTech, South Korea's largest battery recycling company, can process about 8,000 tons of waste lithium ion batteries and metal scrap each year, and can extract 830 tons of lithium phosphate, 1,000 tons of cobalt metal equivalent and 600 tons of nickel. The company has now become part of the supply chain of some of the world's leading battery manufacturers, including Samsung SDI and LGChem. According to the report of the Korea Institute of Industry, in 2016, South Korea extracted about 18.38 billion U.S. dollars of metal from recycled materials, accounting for about 22 % of the country's total metal demand.

At present, the whole domestic power cell recycling network system is not sound. Whether it is scrapping and recycling of end-of-life batteries or terraced utilization, it has not really formed a scale and the technology is still immature.

In terms of dismantling and recycling, some industry experts said that at present, the key technologies for domestic power battery recycling are not yet mature enough. Some battery recycling companies still use manual dismantling or traditional recycling processes, resulting in a large amount of waste of resources. The technology is immature, and the cost of dismantling some of the products is high, which has caused the embarrassing situation in the recycling industry of used batteries in China at present: if it is not recycled, it will cause pollution to the environment; Recovery costs are higher, and few companies are willing to do so.

It is reported that at present, only a few companies in China have built recovery networks themselves: For example, Lifeng Lithium Industry established a wholly-owned subsidiary Jiangxi Weifeng Recycling Technology Co., Ltd. in 2016 and invested 12 million yuan in the construction of lithium metal waste recycling projects; Guoxuan Gao Ke said in March this year, the company has set up a related company on the battery comprehensive recovery, is currently building a recycling production line; Green also recently said that the company has the technology and equipment to recycle lithium metal, will be retired lithium batteries according to the market conditions to expand production in due course.

Despite this, the power battery recycling system of automobile manufacturers, battery manufacturers, recycling service outlets, scrap automobile recycling and dismantling enterprises, comprehensive utilization enterprises, echelon utilization enterprises and recycling enterprises is still far from being established.

New energy car companies need used battery recycling industry

In terms of recycling and echelon utilization, most domestic enterprises are also in the exploration stage.

In order to strengthen the management of the recycling of new-energy automotive power batteries, protect the environment, promote the comprehensive utilization of resources and promote the sustained and healthy development of the new-energy automotive industry, in February this year, The relevant state ministries and commissions jointly promulgated the Interim Measures for the Management of the Recovery and Utilization of New Energy Vehicle power battery(hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), which clearly stipulates that automobile manufacturers shall bear the main responsibility for the recovery of power battery.

Considering that the new energy car industry is a new emerging industry in recent years, most new energy car companies still focus on the research and development of vehicles and the production and sales of vehicles. The road for car companies to "assume the main responsibility for power battery recovery" is still a long way to go.. It is reported that only a small number of car companies are currently exploring power battery recovery channels and other issues: such as BYD's trial to build its own battery recovery closed-loop, through authorized dealers, when customers require scrap or replacement of vehicle power batteries, the battery back to BYD battery factory for testing, After testing, further disposal methods for end-of-life dismantling or echelon use are further developed; There are also car companies that work with battery companies to solve battery recovery problems, such as the cooperation between SAIC Group and Ningde era. In March this year, the two sides signed an agreement to jointly promote the recycling and reuse of new energy automotive power batteries.

Echelon uses retired batteries to rejuvenate

In addition, the "Measures" also support the development of scientific and technological research on the recycling of power batteries, guide research and production, encourage the development of echelon utilization, and promote innovation in the recycling model of power batteries. According to battery China Network, the domestic battery giant has begun to deploy new energy car power batteries after the decommissioning of the echelon use. At the "Storage Energy International Summit and Exhibition 2018" held recently in Beijing, Chenbo, president of Nandu Power, said in an interview with Battery China Network. Nandu Power's product applications cover almost all kinds of battery application scenarios from communication base stations, data centers, UPS, power industries, and energy storage markets. Products have already had rich experience and examples in using this piece in terraces.

It is worth noting that in January 2018, 16 vehicle and battery companies such as Chang 'an, BYD, and Yinlong New Energy reached a cooperation with China Tower Company, a large power battery recycling company. Since 2015, the China Tower has built a trial site for the use of retired batteries, covering various operating conditions such as power reserve, peak filling, and micro-grid. The utilization of retired power batteries in communication base stations and other fields has great prospects.

Battery China Network believes that at present, the power battery recycling industry in China is still in its infancy. On the one hand, the country is constantly issuing policies to plan and guide the healthy and orderly development of battery recycling industry. On the other hand, as the main body of recycling responsibility, auto companies are also constantly strengthening their efforts to build and share recycling channels for used power batteries through various forms of cooperation with battery manufacturers, scrap car recycling and dismantling enterprises, and comprehensive utilization enterprises. This will certainly promote the development of relevant industries for power battery recycling and reuse in China, but the business model still needs to be further explored and innovated, based on policy support and institutional support. A market-oriented "recycling road" that conforms to the healthy development of the new energy automotive industry chain and the needs of ecological and environmental protection.

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