Recycling Spent Batteries Is China's Next Big Electric Car Challenge - Bloomberg

Recycling Spent Batteries Is China's Next Big Electric Car Challenge - Bloomberg
A battery collection and trading business in Dongguan, China, in August. Business was thriving until the local government cracked down following a series of accidental fires.Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Electric Cars With Recycled Batteries Are the Next Green Holy Grail

The flood of used cells could be a key advantage for China, if it gets it right.

They call themselves “garbage collectors,” but the metal boxes that Li and his team in southern China gather and sell are in reality immensely valuable — and difficult to come by.

The seven men are traders of a hot new commodity in the world’s biggest and most mature electric-vehicle market: used batteries. Each one contains prized ingredients like lithium, cobalt and nickel that can be extracted and resold. With millions of EVs now ready to be discarded, and thousands already abandoned in graveyards across the nation, there’s a flood of retired batteries waiting to be recycled.