What to do with busted batteries?

Chinese electric bus manufacturer BYD (which, you may have read in the last issue, is supplying a fleet of new electric buses to the City of Cape Town) will reduce raw material costs and help to address battery waste when it opens a battery recycling plant in Shanghai, in the second quarter of the year.

Rising costs of EV battery materials, such as lithium and cobalt, are part of the reason for BYD’s move into recycling. “The most important driving factor is environmental protection,” brand communication manager Mia Gu told Reuters.

The first batch of electric vehicle (EV) waste in China is expected to surface this year. Total battery waste is expected to reach a staggering 120 000 to 170 000 t a year by 2020.

BYD plans to raise annual battery production capacity by 75 percent in 2018, to 28 gigawatt hours (GWh), to meet rising demand.