China tightens regulation on retired new energy vehicle power battery recycling

Xinhua News Agency reports that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has held the second meeting of the national special working group on the recycling and utilisation of new energy vehicle power batteries on May 28. The meeting stresses the use of legalised approaches to standardise the industrial recycling system and targets multiple irregular practices across the battery recycling sector.

Authorities will conduct rigorous investigations and penalties against violations including unregulated sales of retired power batteries, production of substandard products using recycled batteries, failure to fulfil information traceability obligations, environmentally harmful illegal dismantling operations and unlicensed business activities. The nationwide regulatory campaign aims to rectify market disorder and build a compliant industrial development environment.

China’s new energy vehicle power battery sector has entered a large-scale retirement phase. Industry calculations indicate that the annual output of retired power batteries in the country will exceed one million tonnes by 2030, bringing urgent demands for a sound and efficient recycling and utilisation system. The meeting has outlined long-term institutional arrangements to cope with large-scale battery retirement and clarified key work priorities for 2026.

The meeting requires strengthened inter-departmental collaboration in the construction of laws, policies and standard systems, as well as in research on core industrial issues. Relevant authorities will fully implement existing policy measures and reserve incremental policy tools to support systematic industrial governance. Special joint law enforcement operations will be further carried out to continuously standardise the market order of power battery recycling.

Efforts will be intensified to promote the implementation and publicity of relevant laws and policies. Digital technologies will be widely adopted to strengthen real-time monitoring of battery circulation and track the whole lifecycle of power batteries. The measures will push upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to fully assume their primary operational responsibilities.

The industry will encourage in-depth cooperation among industrial associations, key enterprises and research institutions. More advanced technological equipment will be developed and applied to improve battery recycling efficiency and resource utilisation rate. New business models suitable for large-scale battery recycling will be explored to consolidate the foundation for high-quality industrial development. The systematic optimisation of the recycling industry will support the sustainable and healthy growth of China’s new energy vehicle industry.