New Energy Vehicle Power Battery Traceability Platform Launched; Recycling Market Management Upgraded

On March 31, China’s national new-energy vehicle traction battery traceability information platform (the “information platform”) was officially launched, providing strong support for the implementation of the Interim Measures for the Recycling and Comprehensive Utilization of Scrapped New-Energy Vehicle Traction Batteries (the “Measures”). Industry experts said that the upgrading of the regulatory system to a department rule and the launch of the information platform are not only important milestones in China’s high-quality development of the new-energy vehicle industry, but also signal that China’s traction battery recycling and utilization management framework has officially entered a 2.0 era.

The reporter learned that the information platform replaces the previous New-Energy Vehicle National Monitoring and Traction Battery Recycling and Traceability Comprehensive Management Platform. It covers core functions such as information traceability, enterprise responsibility assessment, analysis of traceability data, and special industry research. It provides solid data support for government competent authorities to conduct precise regulation and efficient law enforcement, and also offers convenient and practical service safeguards for supply-chain enterprises to operate in compliance and manage information.

Ai Chong, Deputy Director of the Department of Resource Comprehensive Utilization, Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that with the rapid expansion of industrial scale, a “retirement wave” of traction batteries is accelerating. According to predictions from relevant institutions, during the “Fifteenth Five-Year Plan period,” China will enter a stage of large-scale retirement of traction batteries. The recycling and utilization of scrapped traction batteries concerns high-quality development and high-level safety, making it urgent to do this work well.

“With the joint efforts of all parties, China’s recycling and utilization system for scrapped traction batteries has been initially established. In 2025, China’s comprehensive utilization volume of scrapped traction batteries will exceed 400,000 tons, up 32.9% year on year. From this, significant quantities of metal lithium, cobalt, and nickel resources have been extracted. But there are still some shortcomings in the work, such as an incomplete regulatory and standards framework, bottlenecks and blockages in full-chain management, and certain places still engage in the manufacturing and sale of substandard lithium battery products.” Ai Chong said.

Regarding the launch of the information platform, Ai Chong said the information platform is a key measure to support full-chain management. He hopes that enterprises across the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain will fully implement the traceability management requirements for the recycling and utilization of scrapped traction batteries, coordinate and work together during the “Fifteenth Five-Year Plan period,” and promote the development of recycling and utilization of scrapped traction batteries toward new, better, smarter, and greener outcomes.

Gong Jinfeng, Deputy General Manager of China Automotive Technology & Research Center Co., Ltd. (the “CATARC”), said that the launch of the information platform marks that China’s recycling and utilization of traction batteries has entered a new stage of digitization and full-chain management. “CATARC will focus on four aspects: strengthening platform operations, deepening policy communication, conducting in-depth industry research, and facilitating smooth coordinated linkages. We will do a good job in government support and industry services, play the role of a third-party bridge and link, promote the establishment of an industry self-discipline mechanism, and help form a sound development pattern of ‘government regulation, institutional support, and enterprise self-discipline.’ Together with colleagues in the industry, we will steadily promote the scrapped traction battery recycling and utilization industry toward the directions of digitization, standardization, and higher value.”

What is also worth noting is that the Measures were officially implemented on April 1. Hu Song, a senior expert at Sinocare Data Co., Ltd., said that the primary role of the Measures is to clarify the responsibility boundaries of various business entities and comprehensively standardize business conduct at all stages of the full lifecycle of traction batteries. In particular, the comprehensive rollout of the traction battery coding traceability system will promote end-to-end traceability of “one battery, one code,” reversing the situation in the industry where traceability breakpoints and unclear responsibility allocation existed in the past, and pushing the industry to transform from “loose management” to “regulated and controllable.”

Hu Song said that in the long run, by clarifying requirements for the handover of scrapped traction batteries and establishing “thresholds” for safety and environmental protection for comprehensive utilization enterprises, the Measures will force “small, scattered, and disorderly” companies to exit the market. This will drive industry resources to concentrate on leading enterprises with advanced technology and standardized management, accelerating scaled and intensive development.

“Standardization of the comprehensive utilization process under the Measures will help improve the resource recovery and utilization rate of scrapped traction batteries, support the realization of the ‘dual carbon’ goals, and set a clear path and provide system safeguards for high-quality development of the entire new-energy vehicle industry. At the policy level, accurate implementation sets the rules. At the platform level, the system is renewed and upgraded to provide stronger support. With both wheels driving together and coordinated efforts, we will open a brand-new chapter in full-lifecycle traceability management of traction batteries in China,” Hu Song said.