china's recyclers eye looming electric vehicle battery mountain - lithium battery manufacturers

SHANGHAI (Reuters)-
After years of dismantling abandoned TV sets and laptops, a recycling plant in Shanghai is preparing for a new wave of garbage: Electric cars pouring into the streets of China, generating a pile of exhausted batteries.
The factory has been licensed and is in the process of upgrading to handle it quickly
Li Yingzhe, factory manager operated by the state, said more and more battery waste
Shanghai Jinqiao Group.
"We believe there will be such a big increase in the number of electric vehicles in the future," he said . ".
Shanghai Jinqiao will enter a market including Chinese companies such as Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium industry and gem.
Shares have risen as they invest in their own battery recycling facilities.
Even if the company faces considerable obstacles in carrying out its battery recycling business, including high operating costs, this confidence follows.
Development of China's electric vehicle industry-
Ambition of recycling company
With the government's efforts to phase out gasoline,
Burning cars is part of a broader effort to improve urban air quality and ease dependence on overseas oil.
Led by companies such as BYD and Geely, China's electric vehicle sales reached 507,000 units in 2016, up 53% from the previous year.
The government's goal is to sell 2 million vehicles annually by 2020, reach 7 million in five years, and reach fifth in total car production by 2025.
According to the International Energy Agency, China's electric vehicle sales accounted for more than 40% of the world in 2016, followed by the European Union and the United States.
It also replaced the United States with the largest number of electric vehicles.
China's lithium battery production, which powers these cars, has also grown sharply.
In the first eight months of 2017, six Chinese manufacturers produced.
7 billion batteries, up 51% year on year
According to the Ministry of Industry, before that.
All of these activities can lead China in the global electric vehicle industry and in related businesses such as battery and recycling.
Industry experts estimate that China has promoted electric vehicles since 2009, and with the end of the life of the first electric vehicle, the waste of lithium batteries next year may be as high as 170,000 tons.
This figure is likely to grow in tandem with car sales.
Dealing with these waste is a huge problem for China.
Lithium batteries have not yet been classified as hazardous waste and are therefore not subject to strict disposal control.
Battery waste includes heavy metals such as cobalt and nickel, as well as toxic substances that may remain in waterways and soil if handled improperly.
Despite the challenges, battery waste is also a significant opportunity for the country's growing recycling industry.
China Automotive Innovation Center, an industry think tank, estimates that the recycling market value may reach 31 billion yuan ($4. 68 billion)by 2023.
Wang Chuanfu, president of China's leading electric vehicle maker BYD Co. , Ltd. , said last month that lithium, copper and cobalt extracted from used batteries were "treasures ".
A larger company
The technology recycling business is already reaping revenue, including the Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Industry, said Sinolink Securities, a local brokerage firm, in a note to investors.
Shares of the company have soared more than 200% this year.
Sinolink also quoted himself.
Announced the operation of China's largest automatic battery dismantling facility in Shenzhen "city miners ".
The stock price of gem has risen by more than 60% since January.
Despite this, the industry still faces many obstacles.
Recycling lithium batteries can be very expensive for many companies.
The industry has yet to agree on the more profitable and standardized requirements needed to deal with used batteries in large quantities.
Some executives also said China did not do enough to encourage the subsidy industry and implement existing environmental regulations.
"Speeding up the recycling of lithium batteries is a top priority and has become a major issue in the development of the new energy vehicle industry," Zhang Tianren said, chairman of battery manufacturer Tianyi electric power wrote in a proposal submitted to the Chinese parliament.
Mr. Zhang of Tianwei says soaring waste disposal costs and high taxes have damaged the business viability of the industry.
In his paper, Zhang quoted a recycling company as saying the value of the material extracted from a ton of lithiumiron-
The cost of recycling waste batteries is 8,110 yuan, but the cost of recycling is 8,540 yuan.
Due to the lack of standardized product design, automation of recycling processes in China is another major challenge, Zhang said.
Automation has also been hampered by backward equipment and technology, especially in the smaller producers, Xiao Hai, chief engineer of Shenzhen --
Clou Electronics, a company based in the development of new energy products, said at an energy conference in August.
Meanwhile, the government is trying to transform the country's recycling system into a high
Technology control industry. Large-
Large battery manufacturers have been asked to set up their own recycling facilities and heavily polluted backyard recyclers have been forced to shut down.
China's Ministry of Industry last year urged the industry to introduce standardized designs by 2020 and raise technology to "international" levels.
It plans to announce comprehensive new battery recycling rules by the end of the year.
However, Tian Neng's Zhang said that the regulatory authorities did not implement the policy and did not punish unqualified companies.
"Because the policy has not been implemented and there is no clear incentive mechanism, there is no profit for lithium battery recycling," he said . ".
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which oversees electric vehicles, did not respond to requests for comment by fax.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection did not respond.
At present, the battery company has undertaken most of the cost of recycling.
While automakers are technically responsible for recycling batteries, in practice, they enter into agreements with suppliers to recycle batteries on their behalf.
Cheng Qing, chief executive officer of Shenzhen Cham Battery Technology Co. , Ltd.
The company said recycling was a pressure on the resources of battery manufacturers.
The Shenzhen Chamber of Commerce produces 300,000 lithium batteries a day at its factory in Dongguan, South China, and lists Geely as a partner.
In order to process the battery, the company must pay the cost to the recycling company.
"If manufacturers like us are responsible, then the government certainly needs to provide the funds to support us," he said . ".