Growing Adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) to Create Novel Opportunities for EV Battery Recycling Market Growth

The rate at which the electric vehicle industry is progressing is absolutely astonishing. Electric vehicles (EVs) might not give out any carbon dioxide throughout their lifespan. But what happens when they are no longer capable of running on roads—especially what about their batteries?

EV batteries are bigger and heavier than the regular car batteries and are made using numerous individual lithium-ion cells, all of which require dismantling. They contain harmful ingredients, and possess a troublesome tendency to burst out if disassembled wrongly.

In the next 10 to 15 years a large pool of EVs are going to complete their lifespan. This is going to create a horde of challenges as well as opportunities for the electric vehicle battery recycling industry. Though, EVs claim to curb harmful emissions, the lithium-ion batteries on which they run might develop severe sustainability challenges.

Growing Penetration of Automobile Makers in Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling

At present, on a global level, various automobile manufacturers are involved in recycling of lithium-ion batteries. For example, Nissan, a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer, is recycling old batteries from its Leaf cars from automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) that supply parts to manual workers in its factories. In addition, Volkswagen, a German motor vehicle manufacturer, is also recycling old batteries and has lately established its first recycling plant, in Salzgitter, Germany. The company has plans to reprocess around 3,600 batteries every year in the experimental phase.

In the future years, there will be a rising necessity for enhanced procedures to produce and dispose of batteries and for improved methods to preserve virgin resources. As per a report by Research Dive, the global electric vehicle battery recycling market is predicted to garner $13,299.6 million by 2028, growing with a striking CAGR of 37.1% in the 2021–2028 timeframe. This is because the notion of recycling used EV batteries seems promising, as the use of recycled material in battery manufacturing is cheaper and less environmentally harmful as compared to mining new resources. Many battery companies and automobile makers are getting into the recycling of EV batteries for saving costs. Here are some of the companies involved in offering electric vehicle battery recycling solutions.

• Redwood Materials: The company aims to form a circular or ‘closed loop’ supply chain by recovering, recycling, and recirculating natural resources including copper, cobalt, and nickel from used batteries.
• Aceleron: The Company uses novel technology to develop the world’s most sustainable lithium battery packs.
• Li-Cycle: The Company sidesteps the smelting procedure and only uses leaching technique to contribute to the circular economy by recycling nearly 95% of all raw materials found in lithium-ion batteries.

Recent Trends in the Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling Market

Several players in the market, such as are LI-CYCLE CORP., ACCUREC Recycling GmbH, American Manganese Inc., Battery Solutions, Recupyl, G & P Service, Retriev Technologies, SITRASA, Umicore, SNAM S.A.S., and others, are profoundly investing in various developments related to electric vehicle battery recycling techniques. They are undertaking various activities, such as new product development, adoption of new technologies, mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, and many more, to obtain a robust position in the industry. For instance,

• In December 2020, MG Motor India Pvt. Ltd, one of the new participants in the Indian car industry, collaborated with TES-AMM, an electronic waste recycling service providing company, to efficiently reprocess used lithium batteries for reusing them in upcoming EVs.
• In February 2021, Volkswagen Group Components, the central supplier for the first models of the new Volkswagen ID, developed an experimental plant in Salzgitter, Germany, that will take up end-to-end responsibility of EV batteries.
• In February 2021, e-BikeGo, an electric vehicle based last-mile delivery startup, announced that it has started recycling EV batteries to decrease the production of e-waste that is likely to create a major problem in the coming years.

In order to boost the recycling of EV batteries, government bodies are also greatly investing into various research activities. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has invested around $15 million into a ReCell Center to synchronize researches by scientists in the industry, academia, and at government research laboratories.

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling Market

The abrupt rise of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has made a severe impact on the growth of the global electric vehicle battery recycling market. The demand for EVs has significantly dropped owing to stringent travelling restrictions and implementation of lockdown across many regions. Shortage of labors and restrictions on recycling industrial units amidst the pandemic is negatively affecting the market growth. However, as the pandemic situation relaxes, the adoption of EVs is expected to surge significantly in the coming years. As the EV industry ramps up, the demand for recycling of EV batteries will also rise considerably in the future years.