China could supply EV manufacturing boom with recycled EVs

Recycling electric vehicle batteries should be simple — we know materials are finite and reusing them makes sense. But the economics almost never work out. Battery chemistry evolves faster than cars wear out, so by the time a vehicle is scrapped, the industry has usually moved to something different, leaving old batteries less valuable. Per Ars Technica, a study from Nanjing University finds China might break that pattern. The research models how recycled materials could meet manufacturing demand through twenty fifty, covering key battery elements like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, plus motor materials like copper and rare earths. The study suggests recycling could eventually become the dominant source for many of these essential materials in China.

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