Battery recycler Recyclus has called for EV batteries to be recycles in the UK and ensure batteries are not exported.
Robin Brundle, co-founder of lithium-ion battery recycler Recyclus, was speaking at a meeting of the Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA), said: “We must ensure batteries are not exported for recycling. We have already paid for the highly valuable materials they contain and should maximise the opportunity to reuse them to enhance our own manufacturing and security.
“Vehicle remarketers have an important part to play here by partnering with certified UK recycling providers, ensuring safe collection and storage, engaging insurers to strengthen corporate responsibility for end-of-life battery recycling, and lobbying for battery producer responsibility to fund local recycling.”
Antonia Stephenson, director of operations for EV Battery Solutions, Cox Automotive, said battery repair was essential to ensuring a viable used EV sector.
“As batteries move out of manufacturer warranties, safe, compliant and economic repair services need to be accessible. With the rapid pace of development in EV batteries, there is a good chance that direct replacement batteries won’t be available.
“Repair is likely to be the only option if you want to keep vehicles on the road and maintain the used vehicle market. The best way to ensure this can be done is to establish repair programs early.”
Abhishek Sampat, head of electric vehicles at BCA, said repair was increasingly being seen as a viable option by remarketing customers. “Understandably, cost is the key driver. If a battery can be restored economically – and it is important to stress that many of the most common issues are not complex and can be resolved in a matter of hours by the right staff and equipment – customers will choose to repair.”
The rapid growth of the EV sector was proving a challenge for battery state of health providers, said Alex Johns, business development partner at MOBA: “The speed with which EVs, especially from Chinese new entrants, are being launched creates a challenge for everyone in our sector, ensuring we have the ability to accurately assess them. So far, we are largely keeping up, which is obviously important to maintaining the viability of these cars in the used sector.”
