Domestic Market Scale of Power Battery Recycling Expected to Exceed 100 Billion Yuan by 2030

On October 20th, at the special press conference on standardization of power battery recycling and utilization held by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), it was estimated that China is about to enter a phase of large-scale retirement of power batteries based on the calculation of battery service life. It is expected that by 2030, the domestic market scale of power battery recycling will exceed 100 billion yuan. According to statistics, the domestic recycling volume of power batteries exceeded 300,000 tons in 2024, corresponding to a market scale of over 48 billion yuan.

Liu Hongsheng, Director-General of the Department of Standardization and Technology of SAMR, stated that SAMR, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other relevant departments, has actively promoted the development and release of relevant national standards focusing on the entire industrial chain of power battery recycling and utilization, providing strong technical support for the development of the power battery recycling and utilization industry. Up to now, China has issued 22 national standards for power battery recycling and utilization, covering various aspects such as general requirements for power battery recycling, management specifications, disassembly specifications, residual energy testing, recycling and reuse, recycling and utilization of lithium-ion waste, and recycled black powder. These standards have strongly supported and led the high-quality development of the power battery recycling industry.

Xie Zaichun, Deputy Director of the Market Supervision Bureau of Fujian Province, introduced that as an important production base of the national power battery industry, Fujian Province has realized the in-depth integration of technological innovation and standard development, and formed a replicable and promotable standardized demonstration model. Bangpu Circular, a subsidiary of CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited), has transformed its independently developed DRT (Directed Recycling Technology) into advanced standards, achieving a recovery rate of 99.6% for nickel, cobalt, and manganese, and 96.5% for lithium. In 2024, it processed over 120,000 tons of waste batteries and produced 17,100 tons of recycled lithium salts. By establishing a standard system, Quanzhou Qingneng Company processed 237 tons of retired batteries in 2024, reduced carbon emissions by 238 tons, and achieved an output value of 23 million yuan.

Liu Hongsheng indicated that in the next step, efforts will be made to accelerate the construction of the standard system for power battery recycling and utilization. Focus will be placed on aspects such as green design of power batteries, residual energy testing, discharge, storage, and directed recycling to promote the formulation and revision of relevant national standards, so as to better play the role of standards in supporting and leading the recycling and utilization of power batteries.