From a sustainability perspective, repurposing represents a fundamental step in creating a circular economy for EV batteries. A report from Circular Energy Storage projects the market for second-life batteries could reach $3 billion by 2025. That is down from a 2018 esimate of $4.2 billion.
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Enkele Zuid-Koreaanse batterijrecyclingbedrijven hebben een sterk debuut gemaakt in de competitie om EV-metalen. Wegens groot succes, willen de bedrijven nu een stapje verder zetten, namelijk met overzeese uitbreidingen. De groei van de vraag naar elektrische batterijen is nog nooit zo hoog geweest. Tech- en energiebedrijven van over de hele wereld gaan dan ook de strijd. "Alle Amerikanen en Europeanen ver achter, aangezien SeungEel al meer dan 10 jaar batterijen verwerkt voor recycling", zegt Hans Eric Melin, directeur van adviesbureau Circular Energy Storage
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Le aziende stanno facendo grandi investimenti per prepararsi a rispettare i target di riciclo delle batterie. Ma l’evoluzione tecnologica e il distacco dal cobalto potrebbero modificare la domanda di metalli, mandando in crisi un settore non ancora davvero nato. Secondo una stima della società di consulenza Circular Energy Storage, la capacità globale di riciclo delle batterie per i veicoli elettrici aumenterà di quasi dieci volte dal 2021 al 2025.
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Leading South Korean battery recycling companies have made strong stock market debuts as they target overseas expansion during a global scramble for metals in electric vehicles. Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Hans Eric Melin, managing director of Circular Energy Storage, a consultancy, said the Koreans’ success lay in their close relationships with the battery cell makers and their aggressive waste sourcing activities.
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Batterisatsningarna har haglat ner över Sverige i år. Och det finns en enorm potential för vad industrin kan innebära för landet, uppger experter Di pratat med. Men de tror att satsningarna kan ha kommit för sent. Hans Eric Melin tror att Asien kommer fortsätta vara dominerande på batterimarknaden. Bland de europeiska projekten tror han att Northvolt har bra förutsättningar, men att många av de liknande projekt som satts i gång runt om i Europa riskerar att inte bli av.
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A global rush into battery recycling is good news for automakers worried about future raw material supplies. But the wave of new factories poses a big risk for the recycling industry itself: there’s nowhere near enough scrap yet to feed them all. “Nobody is really looking at each other, and they seem to think there will be a lot of scrap and end-of-life batteries,” Hans Eric Melin, the founder of Circular Energy Storage, said by phone. “But if you look at the level of capacity that’s coming online, it’s huge in relation to what we need.”
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Finding a technically attractive and cost–efficient way to store energy from intermittent sources, such as solar and wind power, is a major challenge, but one with many possible solutions. Obviously, there is no single “best” solution here, as it depends on the needed electrical capacity, charge, discharge, and use cycles, physical siting, costs, and many other factors. One credible blog from Circular Energy Storage Research and Consulting explains why, under some circumstances, the price of used batteries can be higher than it is for new batteries—go figure that one.
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Om ingen backar från nuvarande planer kommer vi om några år att se en dramatisk överetablering av kapacitet för batteriåtervinning både i Europa och i Nordamerika. Det konstateras i en rapport från Hans Eric Melin på konsultbolaget Circular Energy Storage.
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“Millions of electric vehicles will be scrapped in the coming years. For the batteries that power them, that won’t be the end of the road. Eventually, auto makers and recycling companies want to harvest valuable materials from old EV batteries to make new ones. But before they are recycled, used batteries could be given a second life on the electricity grid.”
Deep dive article in Wall Street Journal using data from Circular Energy Storage and feature interview with Hans Eric Melin.
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“Skenande råvarupriser tvingar många tillverkare att tänka om kring batterier för elbilar. Kina pekas ut som bäst på att ställa om medan Europa ligger efter.”
Hans Eric Melin from Circular Energy Storage is interviewed on the raw material crunch in the European battery supply chain.
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E-Daily
In an interview with South Korea’s Battery Industry Association’s Vice President Jeong Soon-Nam about battery recycling Circular Energy Storage’s data is quoted.
Since electric cars with massive battery packs emerged, people ask where we will get enough cells for them. It was already a concern before a pandemic, a semiconductor shortage, and Vladimir Putin dragging Russia into a senseless invasion against Ukraine. Circular Energy Storage presented more effects to that scarcity than we ever imagined.
Last July, a team of experts in climate policy and materials use argued that the new EU battery regulations might have unintended consequences that could end up undermining climate-change mitigation targets (H. E. Melin et al. Science 373, 384–387; 2021). At root, the problems are those that have always been central to capitalistic economies: how to find the right balance between regulation and the freedoms that enable companies to innovate, to find creative solutions and to be competitive.
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A while ago my wireless earbuds gave up on me. The left one suddenly stopped recharging. I tried to go on without it, but the right died of heartbreak soon after. I stuffed the pair in a drawer and forgot about them, my mild frustration tempered by a new excuse to avoid running.
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One advantage China has in building up battery manufacturing is that it also leads the US and Europe in demand for electric vehicles, says Hans Eric Melin, founder of Circular Energy Storage, a battery consultancy. “Where is everything happening? Where are the resources? Where are the leaders?” Melin asks.
That could also have an influence on who leads with new battery technologies, he notes, by making it far easier for Chinese battery makers to try out and scale up new formulations. He points to last year’s announcement that CATL would make a major push into producing sodium-ion batteries for cars, closing the circuit on yet another old and nearly forgotten technology that was developed largely in Europe and taking it big.
Read the article in Wired here.
Recalls of EV batteries from some of the biggest producers have shown how demanding it is to produce batteries on a large scale, coupled with setting up an "extremely complex" supply chain with both corporate and geopolitical risks.
"To get that (product quality) right while scaling production for the first time is obviously a huge challenge," said Hans Eric Melin, founder of London-based consultancy Circular Energy Storage.
Read the article in Automotive News here.
Melin, the consultant, said Northvolt could well reach its production and market share targets.
“With tailwinds, secured supply of raw materials and a well-positioned product mix I can’t see what could stop them. But those are big ifs,” he said.
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Global capacity for recovering raw materials from used batteries is estimated at 830,0000 tonnes a year, according to the London-based consultancy Circular Energy Storage. “A lot of this is in China and not available for other markets, as import of waste batteries is banned in China,” says managing director Hans Eric Melin.
Hans Eric Melin, Managing Director of Circular Energy Storage, a UK-based consulting group on everything EV battery related, wrapped up the event with a stunning display of knowledge, insight, experience – and Data. I consider Hans Eric to be the globe’s foremost expert on EV battery end-of-life management, and he did not disappoint. The comment that resonated with me the most – “The market is the opinion.”
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Parallellt med batteriboomen behövs en återvinningsindustri för att inte hållbarhetslöftet ska gå förlorat. Inom EU finns ingen storskalig återvinning, men ett tjugotal aktörer kikar på området.
”Det kommer att bli konkurrens och det är väldigt bra”, säger batteriexperten Hans Eric Melin.
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