Last year, China's electric vehicle production and sales ranked first in the world for the ninth consecutive year. As the industry grows, a large-scale "retirement wave" of automotive batteries follows. What's the fate of these decommissioned batteries? Can China's recycling industry handle the problem? Tang Bo has more.
Another ordinary charging process. But this time, what's feeding the electric vehicle are some used batteries. Behind the scenes, a recycling system is making decommissioned batteries work again.
ZHANG CONG, Maintenance Engineer, China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Co.,Ltd "This system is composed of 122,000 battery cells that were scrapped and disassembled from 80 buses and 76 cars. The remaining capacity of the battery cells is about 80% and can continue to work for about 5 to 6 years. This system brings together approximately 12 million kilowatt-hours capacity of retired batteries."
The recycling system is operated by Baoqing Energy Storage Station in Shenzhen in Southern China's Guangdong Province.
Since the system began operating in 2021, the cumulative power generation has reached over 1.7 million kilowatt-hours, equivalent to the daily electricity consumption of nearly 300,000 people.
It's expected that by 2025, China will have retired a total of about 780,000 tons of auto batteries. Re-using them for power generation is just one option to handle them.
Chen Man, a professor-level senior engineer from China Southern Power Grid, sees other great opportunities from decommissioned batteries.
CHEN MAN, Professor level senior engineer, China Southern Power Grid "Generally speaking, electric vehicle batteries can be retired when they only retain 80% of their capacity. But they can still be repurposed for less energy-intensive roles, such as in energy storage facilities. Besides, batteries are rich in lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Recovering these valuable materials can help reduce our reliance on foreign key raw materials."
This month, the European Union implemented a new regulation, requiring 70% of all batteries to be recycled by the end of 2030. This increases demands on China's battery makers and recyclers as the EU is a major importer of lithium batteries from China.
CHEN MAN, Professor level senior engineer, China Southern Power Grid "The New European Battery Regulation makes demands in keeping records of manufacturing history and chemical components. That will push battery manufacturers and recyclers in China to make changes proactively."
TANG BO, CGTN Reporter "Experts believe that the only way for industries to adapt to new international standards, is by achieving an integrated layout from battery production, all the way to robust recycling practices. Strengthening the collection and monitoring of used batteries, reducing carbon emissions through production, and establishing new business models that integrate green tech, are the ways in which these goals can be realized. Tang Bo, CGTN, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province."
Source:
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