The overall recycling network system of power lithium batteries is still very imperfect, and the battery traceability mechanism needs to be established as soon as possible
Recently, data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed that the cumulative production and sales of new energy vehicles in the first three months of 2018 were 149,998 and 142,577 respectively, a year-on-year increase of 164.4 percent and 154.3 percent respectively. The new energy vehicle industry has entered a golden period of development. At present, the total target sales volume of mainstream car companies has exceeded 700,000 vehicles, which is close to the previous cumulative sales of new energy vehicles in China. However, as the first batch of new energy vehicles have been on the road for 5 years, my country has ushered in a "small peak" of power battery retirement at the same time, and its recycling has become a thorny problem faced by the new energy vehicle industry.
According to reports, my country has been piloting the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles since 2010, and in 2016, new energy vehicles will be fully promoted. The general power battery will be retired after 5 to 6 years. This means that starting from 2018, a large number of power batteries in my country will enter the end of life. It is estimated that by 2020, the cumulative amount of battery scrap in my country will reach 120,000 to 170,000 tons. "Compared with lead-acid batteries in the past, metals such as copper, cobalt, and lithium in lithium batteries that are commonly used now have higher economic value. Under the regulation of market mechanisms, waste power batteries will be favored by recycling companies. " said a technician from a new energy vehicle company. Industry insiders believe that new energy vehicle batteries are still valuable after they are retired, and their recycling methods are mainly cascade utilization and resource recycling.
However, at present, the overall recycling network system of power batteries is still very imperfect. Whether it is cascade utilization or recycling, it has not really formed a scale, and the technology still needs to be upgraded. It is understood that only a few third-party recycling companies in my country have built their own recycling networks.
"The key technologies for the decommissioning and recycling of power batteries are not mature enough, and some battery recycling companies still use manual dismantling or traditional recycling processes." Zhang Changling, a senior engineer at China Automotive Technology Research Center, said that 1 ton of waste iron phosphate was recycled and processed by traditional processes. Lithium power batteries are not only unprofitable, but may lose money. At the end of February this year, seven ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly formulated the Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Utilization of Power Batteries for New Energy Vehicles, clarifying that automobile manufacturers are responsible for the recycling of power batteries.
However, some details are still haunting related companies, and industry insiders have called for more detailed standards. Some experts said that the top priority is to solve the problem of battery traceability as soon as possible, and use the new energy vehicle supervision platform to establish a battery traceability mechanism, so that the whole process of the battery from "life" to "death" can be traced. At the same time, support enterprises with RD and refining capabilities, especially guide the integrated development of cascade utilization enterprises and battery enterprises, and guide the integrated development of recycling enterprises and resource materials enterprises.
