POOLE, UK – A little-publicized provision in the US Inflation Reduction Act leaves companies scrambling to recycle tram batteries in North America, putting the region at the forefront of the global race to weaken of China dominance in the field.
IRAs include an EV . auto-qualification provision battery materials are recycled in the United States as American-made for a subsidy, regardless of their origin. That’s important because it qualifies automakers to use recycled U.S. battery materials to encourage EV production.
Reuters interviewed more than a dozen industry officials and experts who say that is triggering a factory-building boom in the US, encouraging automakers to research more recyclable batteries, and ultimately making it harder for buyers in developing countries to buy used electric vehicles.
China handles almost all electric vehicles battery recycling in a global market that is predicted to grow from $11 billion in 2022 to $18 billion by 2028, according to research firm EMR. As more electric vehicles are introduced and no longer in the fleet, that business will grow.
The minerals in those batteries – mainly lithium, cobalt and nickel – average between 1,000 euros ($1,123) and 2,000 euros per car, BMW car Sustainability director Thomas Becker told Reuters.
Louie Diaz, vice president of Canadian battery recycling company Li-Cycle, said these materials could be in short supply over the next few years as automakers ramp up production of electric vehicles, but “can be recycled countless times and without power loss”. Diaz said that funding helped make investment decisions for the plant.
JB Straubel, CEO of Redwood Materials, which was awarded a $2 billion U.S. government loan in February to build a battery materials recycling and remanufacturing complex in Nevada, said the IRA considers recycled battery materials to be locally “urban mining” or material recovered from scrap rather than obtained from mining.
That has encouraged US companies to launch recycling efforts more quickly than their counterparts in the European Union, focusing instead on tasks, including the minimum amount of recycled material in future EV batteries.
Ascend Recycling Co elementLi-Cycle and others are planning to build factories in Europe over the next few years, but access to capital and incentives to manufacture in the US means that some plants in the US are already built.
Mike O’Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements, which already has a recycling plant in Georgia and has received nearly $500 million in funding from the Department of Energy under infrastructure legislation for a Kentucky plant slated to open in late 2023. “We need to keep those valuable materials … so we can get them right back into electric vehicles.”
Christian Marston, chief technology officer of Altilium Metals, says the race is on to build a “closed supply chain” where recycled minerals are fed into new locally produced batteries.
“Everybody wants to control their supply chain, and nobody wants to be dependent on China,” he said.
However, China still leads the race, announcing stricter standards and increasing research support for recyclers last month. After the US Inflation Reduction Act was passed last year, Chinese officials described the law as “anti-globalization” and accused the US of “unilateral bullying”.
FAST DEVELOPMENT
Globally, there are at least 80 companies involved in electric vehicle recycling, with more than 50 startups attracting at least $2.7 billion, nearly all in the past six years, from corporate investors including automakers, battery makers and mining giants like Glencore, according to PitchBook.com data.
The volume of EV batteries available for recycling will increase more than 10-fold by 2030, says consultant Energy Storage Circular Circular. CES says about 11.3 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) of batteries will reach the end of their life in 2022, and that number will increase to 138 GWh by 2030 — equivalent to about 1.5 million electric vehicles — CES said.
Electric vehicle batteries can last 10 years or more.
Some industry officials predict rapid growth means 40% of battery materials used in new electric vehicles could come from recycled stockpiles by 2040.
Today, the United States’ recycling capacity is scant and virtually nonexistent in Europe.
At a facility in Poole, southern England, auto wrecker Charles Trent Ltd built two lines where workers dismantle old or broken vehicles to recycle everything. It has built special containers for EV batteries, which are sold for research or used by innovators in the electrification of fossil fuel-powered cars, in part because there is nowhere to recycle them.
In Europe, EV batteries are now shredded into “black blocks” that are shipped to China for recycling.
‘LOSE ANYTHING’
The race is on to get the best price from that black block.
“The one who gets the most productivity at the lowest cost…wins the game,” said Bruno Thompson, CEO of Cambridge, UK-based startup The Battery Recycling Company, which plans to build its first factory by 2024.
Commercial director Thea said Dallas, Texas-based Ecobat, which shreds batteries in Europe and the US for recycling elsewhere, has improved its recovery process so that about 70% of lithium batteries are available for recycling. soul.
Ultimately, Soule said, output will be closer to 90% to 100%.
Achieving better yields is important as the EU will regulate the minimum amount of recycled lithium, cobalt and nickel in EV batteries within eight years. The EU will also impose tough conditions on recycling outside of Europe.
Those conditions will effectively keep local recycling running, said Kurt Vandepette, senior vice president of Belgian materials company Umicore.
There are also concerns in the industry about finding old electric vehicles to recycle. Today, anywhere up to 30% of Europe’s old fossil fuel cars disappear abroad – to new owners in the developing world or for scrap sale. Several automakers are trying to figure out how to track those EVs.
NISSAN moved to lease electric car in Japan to maintain control of the battery, while Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio leases the battery to customers to retain ownership.
Keeping those minerals in Europe would cut off the source of cheaper transportation for developing countries.
BMW’s sustainability director Becker said the value of the battery material hopes to make recycling more attractive than selling cars abroad, but Europe must focus on ensuring those EV batteries don’t go to waste.
“We have to make sure we don’t lose anything,” Becker said.
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