路透英国普尔7月21日电- - - 美国有一条鲜为人知的条款.S. 减少通货膨胀法 has companies scrambling to recycle electric vehicle batteries in North America, putting the region at the forefront of a global race to undermine China's dominance of the field.

The IRA includes a clause that automatically qualifies EV battery materials recycled in the U.S. as American-made for subsidies, regardless of their origin. That is important because it qualifies automakers using U.S.-回收电池材料用于电动汽车生产的激励措施.

路透 interviewed more than a dozen industry officials and experts who say that is kicking off a U.S. 工厂建设热潮, encouraging automakers to research more recyclable batteries, and could eventually make it harder for buyers in developing countries to buy old used EVs.

China handles virtually all EV battery recycling in a global market projected to grow from $11 billion in 2022 to $18 billion by 2028, 研究公司EMR称. As more EVs are introduced and age out of the vehicle fleet, that business will grow.



这些电池中的矿物质——主要是锂, 钴和镍的平均价值在1,000欧元(合1美元),123) to 2,每辆车000欧元, 宝马 (宝马G.DE) 可持续发展主管托马斯·贝克尔告诉路透社.

Those materials could be in short supply within a few years as automakers boost EV production, but "can be recycled infinity times and not lose their power,路易·迪亚兹说, vice president at Canadian battery recycling firm Li-Cycle (LICY.N)，获得了 3.75亿美元.美国政府贷款 计划今年晚些时候在纽约开设一家工厂. That funding helped bring forward the investment decision for the plant, Diaz said.

JB Straubel, CEO of Redwood Materials, which was awarded a 20亿美元.S. 政府贷款 in February to build out a battery material recycling and remanufacturing complex in Nevada, said the IRA treats recycled battery materials as locally "urban mined," or materials recovered from scrap rather than obtained from mining.

这鼓励了.S. companies to move faster on recycling efforts than their counterparts in the European Union, 而是专注于授权, including minimum amounts of recycled materials in future EV batteries.

回收公司提升元素, Li-Cycle and others are planning European plants in the next few years, but access to funding and the made-in-America incentive means several U.S. 工厂已经在建设中.

"What it (the IRA) does is change the demand equation for battery materials,迈克·奥克朗利说, Ascend Elements首席执行官, which already has one recycling plant open in Georgia and has received nearly $500 million in Energy Department grants under the infrastructure law for a plant in Kentucky slated to open in late 2023. “我们需要保留这些有价值的材料... 这样我们就可以把它们放回电动汽车上."

The race is on to build "closed-loop supply chains" where recycled minerals are put into locally produced new batteries, 克里斯汀·马斯顿说, Altilium Metals的首席技术官, which is building a plant in Bulgaria and plans one in the UK by 2026.

"Everybody wants to control their own supply chain and nobody wants to be reliant on the Chinese,他说.

然而, 中国仍处于领先地位, announcing tougher standards and increased research support for recyclers last month. 去年美国国会通过了一项法案.S. 减少通货膨胀法, Chinese officials described the legislation as "anti-globalization" and accused the U.S. 单边霸凌."

快速增长

在全球范围内, 至少有80家公司参与了电动汽车回收, 有50多家初创公司吸引了至少2美元的资金.70亿年, 几乎都发生在过去的六年里, 来自包括汽车制造商在内的企业投资者, 电池制造商和嘉能可这样的矿业巨头 (格伦.L)PitchBook称.com数据.

The volume of EV batteries available for recycling should grow over tenfold by 2030, 咨询公司Circular Energy Storage表示. 约11.3 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of batteries reached end of life in 2022, and that should rise to 138 GWh by 2030 - equivalent to roughly 1.500万辆电动汽车——CES表示.

电动汽车电池可以使用10年或更长时间.

Some industry officials anticipate rapid growth means 40% of battery materials used in new EVs could come from recycled stocks by 2040.

几乎没有现有的美国.S. 而在欧洲几乎没有.

在英格兰南部普尔的一个设施里, car breaker Charles Trent Ltd has built two lines where workers deconstruct wrecked or old vehicles to recycle everything. 它已经为电动汽车电池建造了特殊的容器, which are sold for research or used by retrofitters electrifying fossil-fuel cars, 部分原因是没有地方回收它们.

在欧洲, EV batteries are currently shredded into "black mass" that is shipped to China for recycling.

“失去了什么”

The race is on to squeeze the best price out of that black mass.

“谁能以最低的成本获得最高的收益 ... 会赢得这场比赛,布鲁诺·汤普森说, 剑桥大学首席执行官, 总部位于英国的创业公司电池回收公司, 哪家公司计划在2024年建第一家工厂.

Dallas, Texas-based Ecobat, which shreds batteries in Europe and the U.S. 在其他地方循环再造, has improved its recovery process so around 70% of battery-cell lithium is available for recycling, 首席商务官西娅·索莱说.

Eventually, Soule said, yields should reach levels close to 90% to 100%.               

Getting better yields matters because the EU will mandate minimum amounts of recycled lithium, 在八年内将电动汽车电池中的钴和镍. The EU will also impose tough conditions on recycling outside Europe.

这些条件将有效地保持本地回收, 库尔特·范德普西特说, 比利时材料公司优尼科的高级副总裁 (UMI.BR).      

There are also industry concerns about finding old EVs for recycling. 今天, anywhere up to 30% of Europe's old fossil-fuel cars disappear overseas - to new owners in developing countries or for scrap. Some automakers are trying to figure out how to keep tabs on those EVs.

日产 (7201.T) has turned to leasing EVs in Japan to maintain control of batteries, while Chinese EV maker Nio (9866.HK) 将电池租赁给客户以保留所有权.

Keeping those minerals in Europe would cut off a cheaper source of transportation for developing countries.

宝马's sustainability chief Becker said the value of battery materials will hopefully make recycling more attractive than selling vehicles abroad, but Europe must focus on ensuring those EV batteries do not slip away.

“我们必须确保我们不会失去任何东西，”贝克尔说.

($1 = 0.8902欧元)

尼克·凯里普尔报道, 英格兰, 底特律的Paul Lienert和柏林的Victoria Waldersee, 本·克莱曼和克劳迪娅·帕森斯编辑