This article is from WeChat public account:energymagazine, author: Tian Tian, from the title figure: vision China
At the end of the recent year, the production line of the factory in Sai Demei Tianjin High-tech Zone was very quiet.
According to the plan, this factory can handle 12,000 tons of used power batteries every year, but due to insufficient raw materials, only a few production lines are currently operating. When the state of full-load production came, the managing director Zhao Xiaoyong was still uncertain, but he said with certainty: “There will be more retired batteries next year.”
In 2015, China became the world’s largest new energy vehicle market, and power battery recycling has become the focus of the industry. Also in this year, Zhao Xiaoyong met a university teacher who mastered the patent for automatic disassembly of batteries. He also came into contact with the capital party concerned with recycling. The three parties hit it off and stepped into the power battery recycling industry.
Retired batteries usually have 80% of electricity, which can be used in low-speed electric vehicles, forklifts, energy storage, etc. After reaching the level of scrapping, they will enter the dismantling and recycling process to recover cobalt, nickel, lithium and manganese. Wait for the metal. These metal elements are either strategically scarce resources or key raw materials for power batteries.
In 2016, the “Regulations on the Comprehensive Utilization of Waste Energy and Battery for New Energy Vehicles” issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology provoked the nerves of various players, and the power battery recycling market began to heat up. The intruders almost included the entire new energy automobile industry chain, such as smelting metallurgical enterprises, battery companies, car companies; solid waste recycling companies, and cross-border players such as China Tower, which has huge demand for the use of ladders.
According to the life expectancy of the power battery for 5-8 years, by 2020, China will have the first power battery retiring tide. China Automotive Technology and Research Center predicts that the total amount of decommissioned scrap will reach 12-17 million tons next year. By 2022, the market size will exceed 30 billion yuan.
But the reality is that because the battery standards are not uniform, technologyDue to immature reasons, the economics of the use of the ladder are still in doubt; the economic benefits need to be achieved by the scale effect in the dismantling and recycling. However, due to the fact that the recycling channels have not been fully opened, a large number of decommissioned batteries will flow into the informal channels, and the battery recycling industry may continue to heat up. Encounter the dilemma of “no rice.”
Industry Virtual Fire
“We have already started the production line. After 2-3 years, when the industry is experiencing a large-scale outbreak, it will be too late.” Jin Chuan Commissioner of the Discipline and Chairman of the Labor Union Cao Yumeng felt that there was not much time left in the window period.
As the largest cobalt-nickel production base in China, Jinchuan’s movements have not been small in the past two years. After joining forces with Guoxuan Hi-Tech, the third largest power battery manufacturer in China, it has established power battery recycling companies in Anhui and Gansu. This year, it signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Railway Tower.
Jinchuan is not a case. Since 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued the “Regulations on the Comprehensive Utilization of Waste Energy and Battery for New Energy Vehicles”, the whole industry has been cooking like a fire. Zhao Xiaoyong used “a swarm of bees” to describe the current state of the industry.
Battery materials manufacturers, battery companies, car companies and recycling manufacturers, as well as some cross-border players such as China Tower, have all laid out the power battery recycling, and they have been woven together to make a bigger and bigger Industry map.
The China Tower is undoubtedly the most popular player in the limelight. Beginning in 2017, China Iron Tower has successively signed cooperation agreements with battery companies such as BYD and Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Jianghuai Automobile and Weilai Automobile, and downstream GEM, Hao Peng, Sai Demei and Jinchuan to stir up their own efforts. The entire industry chain.
In addition to the vertical penetration of the industrial chain, the China Tower has also been greatly encircled in the horizontal direction. It has led the establishment of the Power Battery Recycling Alliance in Sichuan and Hunan. Only the Sichuan Alliance has radiated 96 enterprises in the industry chain inside and outside the province. And units.
China IronTower layout power battery recycling, first of all, its own base station construction needs. On more than 1.9 million base stations across the country, the original lead-acid batteries were heavily polluted and their service life was not satisfactory. At the same time, 5G technology is also undergoing commercialization. Test results show that 5G energy consumption is three times that of 4G. The cost-effective advantage of retired power batteries is more prominent.
But the ambition of the Chinese Tower is far more than that. Just this year, China Tower has wholly established Tieta Energy Co., Ltd. and Tiata Zhilian Technology Co., Ltd., and proposed to provide backup, charging, and power exchange services for the financial, transportation, medical, commercial, and low-speed electric bus groups. Use technology to conduct research and achieve industry technology output, including standard setting.
There is also a professional third-party recycling agency for running. These companies have accumulated rich environmental and technical experience in the dismantling and recycling of electronic products, etc., and naturally have a first-mover advantage. Hubei Jingmen GEM, Hunan Bump, Jiangxi Cangzhou Haopeng, Huizhou Huayou Cobalt New Materials, Guangdong Guanghua Technology are among the best. In 2018, five companies were approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as the “White List” enterprise for the “Standard Conditions for the Comprehensive Utilization of Waste Energy Storage Battery for New Energy Vehicles”.
Battery and battery materials companies are not far behind. In addition to Jinchuan, Xiamen Tungsten has become the largest shareholder of Zhangzhou Haopeng by holding company, and Huayou Cobalt is behind Huizhou Huayou Cobalt.
Car companies are also one of the key players in the entire industry chain. In February 2018, the seven ministries and commissions of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the “Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Utilization of New Energy Vehicles’ Power Batteries”, clearly stipulating that car companies are the mainstay of battery recycling and are at the starting point of the entire recycling industry chain.
“According to the plan, at the end of this year or the first half of next year, the company will take practical actions to register the company and plan the production line.” Fang Chao told the company. As the head of the innovative business working group of Shanghai Automotive Asset Management Co., Ltd. under the SAIC Group, he has been engaged in the investigation of decommissioned battery recycling for the past two years. “The trend of automotive electrification is becoming more and more obvious. The use of waste battery ladders and dismantling and recycling is value. The inevitable direction of extension is definitely valuable.”
But for the virtual fire of the industry, Zhao Xiaoyong has some concerns. “This industry has its own development rules, it can’t be too fast, companies need to carefully consider.”
Economics to be improved
Zhao Xiaoyong’s words are not empty. Due to the scale of decommissioning, dismantling technology, etc., the economics of battery recycling have yet to be verified and improved.
At present, on the market