The implementation of “vehicle-and-battery integrated scrapping” for new energy vehicle power batteries has been rolled out, and the “regular forces” have already begun carrying it out.

Scrapped new energy vehicles are missing the traction battery and will be unable to complete deregistration. This means that scrapped vehicle recycling must be “vehicle-and-battery integrated,” and traction batteries removed privately from scrapped vehicles can no longer be transferred.

On April 1, six departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly issued and formally implemented the “Interim Measures for the Recycling and Comprehensive Utilization Management of Retired Traction Batteries from New Energy Vehicles.” “Vehicle-and-battery integrated scrappage” has become a mandatory red line, and a digital identity system for traction batteries from new energy vehicles has been established. China’s management system for traction battery recycling and utilization has entered the 2.0 era of “all channels, all links, and the whole lifecycle.”

On the first day the measures took effect, Xinjing Bao Kechaijing reporters visited the traction battery recycling market and found that although gray recycling channels have not completely disappeared, authorized recycling service outlets have already begun to implement the new requirements.

“Vehicle-and-battery integrated scrappage” will block unauthorized recycling

Can a traction battery from a scrapped car that has been dismantled be recycled? On April 1, Xinjing Bao Kechaijing reporters searched online platforms for multiple companies engaged in related recycling businesses and asked them.

A staff member from a waste hauling and “throw-away” materials recycling company said on the phone that it is still possible for them to collect used car batteries at the customer’s location. After the recycler arrives, they comprehensively evaluate the price based on the battery’s brand, module type, and weight.

“Prices are different for different brands.” The staff member explained, “For small-brand batteries, we price by weight—RMB 3,000 per ton; for big-brand batteries, we buy by piece—there are prices ranging from RMB 500 to RMB 1,000.” During the entire conversation, the other party did not ask whether the vehicle had already been scrapped or whether the battery source was compliant, nor did they mention the measures that became effective on April 1.

Subsequently, Xinjing Bao Kechaijing reporters also called another company that recycles waste materials and equipment. The response was the same: within Beijing, they can collect car batteries “at any time.” The specific price could not be determined directly over the phone; they needed to check photos of the batteries before quoting. “For each piece, the price ranges from several hundred yuan to several thousand yuan.”

Meanwhile, a search on Tianyancha showed that the relevant filing information for both of these recycling companies could not be found. This indicates that some unqualified “workshops” are still taking orders.

And this bottleneck will be addressed by the “killer move” in the new measures—cutting off “workshop” supply from the source.

It is understood that previously, about 70% of retired batteries flowed out through non-standard channels, causing authorized recycling enterprises to have “nothing to process” and leaving compliant capacity idle. The measures’ most core institutional design precisely targets this source: establishing the principle of “vehicle-and-battery integrated scrappage.” It requires that when a scrapped-vehicle recycling and dismantling enterprise recycles a new energy vehicle and finds the traction battery is missing, the vehicle must be recognized as a “vehicle with missing components.”

Wang Peng, a deputy research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said this provision directly addresses a pain point that has long existed in the industry. In the past, some vehicle owners or operating companies, seeking higher returns, often privately dismantled traction batteries before scrappage, then sold them to illegal dismantling sites like “workshops.”

After the measures are implemented, if vehicle owners privately dismantle and sell batteries, not only will the vehicle be unable to complete the scrappage and deregistration procedures, affecting subsequent new vehicle license plate registration, but if illegally transferred batteries are involved in a safety accident, the original vehicle owner will also have to bear corresponding legal liability. “It is essentially locking the traction battery’s outlet to non-standard channels from the source,” Wang Peng said.

Authorized “regular forces” under the new rules are already taking action

According to the information on new energy vehicle traction battery recycling service outlets made public by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, there are a total of 156 traction battery recycling service outlets within Beijing.

Xinjing Bao Kechaijing reporters called Beijing Beiqi Pengyuan Automobile Sales Service Co., Ltd. among them. On the phone, the staff clearly stated that the stores only recycle “vehicles that can still be driven normally.” If the vehicle has already had the battery dismantled and cannot drive on its own, it is not within the scope of recycling. “We can’t take batteries—vehicles with missing batteries—we can’t process.” The other party emphasized.

This shows that on the first day the measures took effect, authorized recycling outlets have begun strictly implementing the principle of “vehicle-and-battery integrated scrappage.” If vehicle owners want to dispose of used car batteries through authorized channels, they must ensure the vehicle as a whole is in a runnable condition, not simply delivering it separately in the form of batteries.

When senior expert Hu Song of China Automotive Data Co., Ltd. was interviewed by Xinjing Bao Kechaijing reporters, he said that compared with the 2018 interim provisions by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on traceability management for recycling and utilization of traction batteries from new energy vehicles, the new measures have stronger constraints at the regulatory level, and it is the first time penalties have been clearly specified.

It is worth noting that in terms of responsibility subject division, “the measures include both traction battery enterprises and new energy vehicle production enterprises within the management scope at the same time, forming a dual-responsibility entity structure, and clearly defining the responsibility boundaries for both—namely, separately ‘backstopping’ the recycling responsibility for batteries that are not installed in vehicles but flow into the market, as well as the recycling responsibility for batteries that are installed in vehicles. This will have a substantive推动 effect on the industry’s standardized development,” Hu Song said.

He believes that while implementing the measures may increase compliance costs for enterprises in the short term, it will systematically strike “small, scattered, and chaotic” businesses, forcing non-compliant enterprises to accelerate withdrawal from the market, promoting resources to concentrate on leading enterprises that are legitimate and compliant with well-managed operations, and facilitating the industry’s development toward sustainability and intensive practices.

As a leading automaker, on April 1, GAC Group responded to Xinjing Bao Kechaijing reporters, stating that the measures are a key step to implement the producer responsibility extension system and to regulate industry order. GAC Group has built an end-to-end layout across the entire industrial chain: through its energy ecosystem segment, its invested company Yuput Energy leads the construction of a “mineral—materials—battery cells—recycling—regeneration” closed-loop system, fully adapting to the requirements of traceability platforms, standardizing recycling processes and pricing mechanisms, and enabling traction batteries’ whole lifecycle to be traceable and controllable.

“Implementing the new rules is a good thing that benefits the industry’s standardized development.” Mr. Hu is the head of a new energy vehicle repair plant in Shunyi District, Beijing, and this repair plant is also a traction battery recycling outlet. He believes the measures will greatly compress the survival space of “workshops,” reduce gray areas in the industry, and help increase the market scale for traction battery recycling.

Retired new energy vehicle traction battery pack. Photo provided by interviewee

Multiple people engaged in traction battery recycling believe that the new rules will increase the share of the “regular forces” channels in the recycling of retired traction batteries, and non-compliant recycling channels such as “workshops” will be gradually cleaned up.

Every traction battery must have a “digital identity”

If “vehicle-and-battery integrated scrappage” is a system-level patch to close loopholes, then the national traceability information platform for traction batteries from new energy vehicles launched simultaneously is the fundamental technical safeguard.

The national new energy vehicle traction battery traceability information platform (referred to as the “National Battery Information Platform”) has officially started. The platform is supported technically by China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC), and it will implement whole-lifecycle supervision of traction batteries, covering production, sales, repair, replacement, dismantling, and comprehensive utilization. This is equivalent to giving traction batteries a “digital identity.”

Wang Peng said this mechanism solves the previous “traceability dead ends.” In the past, once a battery was separated from the vehicle, it was difficult to track where it went. Now, whether it is replacement, repair, or final scrappage, each transfer must be recorded in the platform. This not only provides precise regulatory data support for government departments, but also helps recycling companies accurately assess the battery’s residual value and improve operational efficiency. Implementing the measures will reshape the industry’s competitive landscape. As traceability controls are strengthened and illegal channels are restricted, the long-standing “shortage of supply” that has troubled authorized recycling enterprises is expected to be alleviated.

Hu Song believes that the measures standardize business conduct across all links of the traction battery’s whole lifecycle, aiming to minimize the length of the distribution chain so that retired traction batteries can be used for comprehensive utilization and disposed of quickly and efficiently. At the same time, it further standardizes handover requirements for retired traction batteries, clarifying the “threshold” requirements for comprehensive utilization enterprises in terms of safety, environmental protection, and so on.

In addition, to eliminate possible misconceptions among enterprises and consumers, the new rules no longer use the concept of “cascade utilization,” and instead clearly state that “any organization or individual may not directly, or after processing, use retired traction batteries for electric bicycles and for other fields that are prohibited by laws, administrative regulations, and mandatory standards.”

“This does not mean cascade utilization is banned. It just puts safety first,” Hu Song said. In past practices of cascade utilization of batteries, the industry sometimes introduced new terms such as “remanufacturing” and “refurbishing” in an attempt to bypass regulation, creating adverse effects on market order. The measures send a clear signal that no matter how the battery product is produced, it must comply with mandatory standards for the application field, eliminating safety hazards.

The national strategy behind the “urban mine”

To professionals, retired traction batteries have an image-rich nickname: “urban mines.”

Xie Wenli, general manager and chief engineer of Beijing Green Source New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., calculated the numbers for Xinjing Bao Kechaijing reporters: for every 10k tons of recovered ternary batteries, 1,200 tons of lithium and 800 tons of cobalt can be extracted. These resources can effectively relieve the dilemma of China’s import dependence on lithium (70%) and cobalt (98%). And as traction battery recycling becomes increasingly standardized, the accelerated construction of recycling systems will also promote the circular utilization of traction battery resources.

Numbers are proving this trend. In 2025, the comprehensive utilization volume of retired traction batteries from China’s new energy vehicles exceeded 4 million tons, up 32.9% year over year. The Industry Research Department of the Battery Recycling and Utilization Committee of the China Electronic Energy Conservation Association previously predicted that starting in 2028, China’s retired traction battery volume will exceed 10k tons, and the output value of the retired battery recycling and utilization industry will exceed RMB 280 billion.

A report by Xingye Research shows that China’s battery recycling policies, after going through a start-up period and an exploration period, have now entered a refinement stage. Related policies keep pace with the industry’s development characteristics and continue to adjust, which can basically match the current goal-oriented direction and development needs.

From the perspective of resource utilization, Hu Song pointed out that China’s foreign dependence for key metal elements such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel is relatively high, mainly relying on imports. As the traction battery recycling and utilization system becomes increasingly standardized, and as the scale of recycled metal resources steadily increases, it is expected that in the future, China can effectively reduce dependence on overseas resources and further enhance the security of the supply chain. “So this is not only an industry matter; it also involves the national strategy of supply-chain security for strategic resources.”

Although the implementation of the measures appears to be a crackdown on each batch of retired batteries, in fact it opens a new door for China’s new energy vehicle industry. Retired batteries are no longer viewed as waste; they are treated as “urban mines” to be mined. Every battery is recorded and transferred in an orderly manner from birth to scrappage. The gray industrial chain of “battery-and-vehicle separation” recycling is expected to be cut off.

Xinjing Bao Kechaijing reporters Lin Zi, Wang Linlin, and Zhang Bing

Editor Yang Juanjuan

Proofreader Lu Xi