Recycling

Recycling

Challenges

Challenges

Increased battery production, tightening regulations, sustainability, and raw materials scarcity drive the need for recycling. However, recycling faces challenges on multiple fronts.. Alternatives At End Of Life

Large Number Of Competitors

There is a small window opportunity for new entrants, with over 30 recycling projects already announced in the EU.

Cell manufacturers, auto OEMs, and traditional recyclers are all seeking to lead the energy transition and capture margin.

High Barriers To Entry

Bargaining Power Of Buyers

Refined materials markets are dominated by a few players, typically cathode manufacturers or integrated cell manufacturers.

Refining companies need long term offtake agreements to recoup capex, giving buyers higher bargaining power.

Current technologies require high opex and capex. Economies of scale are required to compete in new markets. There may be no sustainability premium. Uncertainty due to challenges with scale-up and variable scrap rate from cell and cathode manufacturers. Recycling technologies recover different materials at different costs.

Second life applications delay the time at which batteries can be recycled.

Disparate hazardous waste regulations across markets can landfill disposal, especially for battery chemistries that use lower value materials.

Bargaining Power Of Suppliers

The highest volume of feedstock currently comes from the cell scrap of cell manufacturers, a highly concentrated market with a lot of bargaining power.

Cell manufacturing is concentrated regionally and often colocated with suppliers to reduce transportation cost.

Extracted from the PDF; charts and images may read imperfectly.