A September 6, 2026 report says China is bracing for a power-battery retirement wave, with annual retired volume projected to exceed 1 million tonnes by 2030, making a sound recycling system urgent.
Sichuan has taken the lead by launching five regional recycling centers, and a management rule from six ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology took effect in April 2026. Yet more than 60% of retired batteries still flow into small, informal workshops, with lagging collection outlets and poor channels remaining the main pain points.
The gap highlights both a risk and an opportunity: as the first wave of NEVs reaches end-of-life, building a formal, traceable recycling chain is becoming a strategic segment of the battery industry, not just an afterthought of manufacturing.
Image: Low-speed electric vehicle charging scene in Jiangsu, China. Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
