As electric vehicles in China proliferate, reprocessing firms eye their disposed batteries
After years of dismantling discarded televisions and laptops, a Shanghai recycling plant is readying itself for a new wave of waste - piles of exhausted batteries from the surge of electric vehicles hitting China's roads.
The plant has secured licenses and is undergoing upgrades to handle a fast-growing mountain of battery waste, said Li Yingzhe, a manager at the facility, which is run by the State-owned Shanghai Jinqiao Group.
"We believe there will be so much growth in the number of electric vehicles in the future," he said.
Shanghai Jinqiao will be entering a market that includes Chinese companies like Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Co, based in East China's Jiangxi Province, and GEM Co, based in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province.
Both of the companies' share prices rose when they invested in battery recycling facilities of their own. And that confidence comes even as companies face considerable hurdles launching battery recycling businesses, including high operating costs.
The growth of China's electric vehicle industry and the ambitions of recycling companies are underpinned by a government drive to eventually phase out gasoline-burning cars, part of a broader effort to improve urban air quality and ease a reliance on overseas oil.
A world leader
Led by companies like Shenzhen-based BYD Auto Co and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group based in East China's Zhejiang Province, sales of electric vehicles in China reached 507,000 in 2016, up 53 percent from the previous year.
The government is targeting sales of 2 million a year by 2020 and 7 million by 2025, which would amount to one-fifth of national car production.
According to the International Energy Agency, China accounted for more than 40 percent of global electric car sales in 2016, followed by the European Union and the U.S.
It also overtook the US as the market with the greatest number of electric vehicles.
China's production capacity of power batteries stood at 27.9 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2016, with lithium-iron phosphate varieties, the dominant type used in China's electric vehicles, taking up 60 percent of the total, industry website libattery.ofweek.com reported in August.
In the first half of this year, China's shipments of lithium-ion batteries reached 16 GWh and the full-year figure is estimated to reach 42.8 GWh, said the industry report.
All that activity could put China in pole position for dominating the global electric car industry, as well as related businesses like batteries and recycling.
China began promoting electric vehicles in 2009, and as the first batches of those cars reach the end of their life spans, lithium battery waste could amount to as much as 170,000 tons next year, industry experts estimate. And that figure is likely to keep multiplying in tandem with car sales.
However, dealing with all that waste poses huge problems for China. Lithium batteries are not yet classified as hazardous waste and are therefore not subject to stringent disposal controls. Battery waste includes heavy metals like cobalt and nickel, as well as toxic residues that could end up in waterways and soil if not handled properly.
Despite the looming challenges, battery waste also represents a significant opportunity for the country's growing recycling industry.
