New Energy Vehicle Power Battery Recycling System Accelerates Forming Supervision Difficulties Still to Be Solved

On March 14, the reporter learned from the China Iron Tower Energy Innovation Center that the China Tower Energy Innovation Center has completed the preparation and reporting of the Implementation Plan for the Recycling of Power Battery for New Energy Vehicles (hereinafter referred to as “Implementation Plan”), and is fully implementing the power battery. The study of the use of ladders and the implementation of landings.

According to Jia Xinguang, an automotive analyst, the implementation of the "implementation plan" has made the norms of the new energy automotive industry more complete, enabling the healthy development of new energy vehicles in energy conservation and emission reduction. As new energy vehicles and batteries are closely linked, the new energy will be used in the future. The car has a great influence.

Discarded battery recycling is imminent

It is understood that since the promotion and application of new energy vehicles in China in 2014, as of the end of 2017, it has cumulatively promoted more than 1.8 million new energy vehicles and assembled approximately 86.9 GWh of power batteries.

According to the forecast of the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, the service life of power batteries is generally 5-8 years, which means that new energy batteries put into the market in the early stage are basically at the critical point of elimination.

However, it is worrying that, in 2015, the total number of domestic scrap batteries was 20,000-40,000 tons, and the corresponding battery recycling rate was only 2%. Therefore, how to properly recycle and treat decommissioned batteries has become an industry issue. One of the main issues.

It is worth noting that waste power batteries not only have the potential of causing heavy metal pollution, but also electrolytes that are highly corrosive and toxic, prone to the production of toxic chemical gases, and endanger human health. Domestically, there is no complete system to divert automotive manufacturers. To the battery recycler's operation process, this has also caused new energy vehicles to have disputes over pollution issues.

According to data from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, from 2018 to 2020, the country's cumulative scrapped battery will reach 120,000-200,000 tons, and by 2025, the annual report of power battery will amount to 350,000 tons. With the rapid development of the new energy automotive industry, China has become the world's largest producer and seller of new energy vehicles, and the production and sales volume of power batteries has also increased year by year. The recovery of power batteries has received widespread attention from the society.

The policy encourages the use of ladders

In fact, the upcoming embarrassing situation of battery recycling for new energy vehicles has attracted the attention of relevant departments. On February 26 this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the "Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Utilization of Powered Storage Battery for New Energy Vehicles" (hereinafter referred to as "Provisional Measures"). It aims to support the scientific and technological research on the recovery and utilization of power storage batteries, and guide the collaboration of production, learning and research, encourage the use of cascade utilization and recycling, and promote innovation in the recovery and utilization of power storage batteries.

In order to implement the "Provisional Measures," on March 2nd, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other seven ministries proposed that "supporting China's iron tower companies and other companies in combination with pilot projects in various regions, and conducting demonstration projects for the use of power battery ladders." By 2020, we will establish a complete system for the recovery and utilization of power batteries and explore the formation of an innovative commercial cooperation model for power battery recycling.

According to the “Implementation Plan”, the producer responsibility extension system shall be fully implemented. Automobile production companies, battery production companies, scrapped automobile recycling and dismantling enterprises, and comprehensive utilization enterprises shall cooperate and jointly construct and share waste power battery recovery channels through various forms.

According to public information, the China Tower currently has nearly 2 million iron towers nationwide, and a total of approximately 136 million kWh of batteries are required. At the beginning of 2018, the strategic partnership agreements for the recycling and utilization of new energy vehicles were signed by 16 companies including China Iron Towers, Chongqing Chang'an, BYD, Yinlong New Energy, Watermar, Guoxuan Hi-Tech and Thornton New Energy.

The reporter's investigation found that most of the towers are still lead-acid batteries because of price, service life, and other factors. This also means that the power battery recycling prices given by the Chinese towers will be very low. With the implementation of the “Implementation Plan”, the agreement signed by the China Iron Tower and 16 auto companies on price, recycling methods, etc., also means that the recycling price will be expected to increase significantly.

Regulatory difficulties to be solved

However, the recycling of power batteries as an emerging field is currently in its infancy and faces some outstanding problems and difficulties. At present, most of the power batteries have not yet been retired, and there is no effective cooperation mechanism between companies such as automobile production, battery production and comprehensive utilization. In the implementation of the extended system of producer responsibility, it is necessary to further refine and improve relevant legal support.

At the same time, there is a shortage of recycling technology. The data shows that the lack of enterprise technology reserves, the key common technologies and equipment such as the eco-design of power storage batteries, the use of ladders, and the efficient extraction of valuable metals, etc., need to be broken. Retired power battery discharge, storage and use of products such as ladders and other standards lack; Moreover, incentives and measures to protect less, affected by technology and scale, the current market, the recovery of valuable metals income is not high, the economy is poor. The relevant fiscal and taxation incentive policies are not perfect, and the market-based recycling mechanism has not yet been established.

Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the National Passenger Car Information Association, said that the “Implementation Plan” clarified the recycling specification for new energy vehicles’ power batteries, and focused on ensuring that the used power batteries were recycled back to the regular recycling enterprises, but the residual value of used power batteries The assessment still lacks a unified standard. At the same time, whether the recycling of power batteries can be effectively monitored will also become a difficult point in the implementation of the “Implementation Plan”.

An industry insider who does not want to be named believes that power battery technology is the core technology of new energy vehicles. Under the premise of no major breakthrough in battery technology, it is directly related to the cost performance of new energy vehicles as a product. The implementation of the "implementation plan" also means that the new energy vehicle power battery recycling will gradually be standardized, providing new growth drivers for the development of new energy vehicles.