- By 2030, China's waste power battery volume is projected to exceed one million tons annually.
- The regulations do not apply to models supporting battery swap. Management measures for such models are currently under development.
Chinese authorities require that electric vehicles (EVs) must have their power batteries retained with the vehicle upon scrapping.
The requirement was outlined in a document released Friday by six government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), to prevent discarded power batteries from entering uncontrolled channels.
This comes as power batteries from EV models sold over the past years enter their capacity degradation phase and approach retirement, leading to a steady increase in discarded power battery volume.
By 2030, China's waste power battery output will exceed 1 million tons annually, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
The new regulations, effective April 1, 2026, specify that China will implement full lifecycle management for waste power batteries.
Under these regulations, old EVs lacking power batteries should be classified as incomplete vehicles upon scrapping.
It should be noted that these regulations do not apply to models supporting battery swap. Authorities are currently studying and formulating management measures for battery-swap vehicles, the MIIT said at a press conference.
Power battery manufacturers shall bear recycling responsibilities for EV power batteries they produce or import for sale and use within China, except for batteries sold to EV manufacturers.
Battery manufacturers are prohibited from refusing to accept waste power batteries transferred by enterprises engaged in power battery leasing, battery swap, and other operational services, as well as motor vehicle repair enterprises, for which they are responsible for recycling.
With the rapid growth of China's EV industry, the issue of power battery disposal has drawn attention for several years.
A June 2021 report by state broadcaster CCTV noted that China's retired power battery volume reached about 200,000 tons in 2020.
This figure was projected to rise to about 780,000 tons in total by 2025 — four times the 2020 level, according to the report.
Power batteries have a finite lifespan; once their capacity degrades to 80%, they are no longer suitable for powering vehicles.
($1 = RMB 6.9666)
