E-bike Subsidy of 42,000 Supports Battery Recycling! Over 8,000 Related Companies Registered This Year

China's Battery Recycling Sector Welcomes New Policy Support! On March 19, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport, the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and the General Office of the Ministry of Finance jointly issued a notice on the "Implementation Rules for Subsidies for the Update of New Energy Urban Buses and Power Batteries in 2025," which uses ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds to provide fixed subsidies to urban bus companies for updating new energy urban buses and replacing power batteries. For battery replacements, an average subsidy of 42,000 yuan per vehicle is provided; local authorities can independently determine the subsidy standards for updating new energy urban buses based on the demand and quantity ratio for vehicle updates and battery replacements. With a large number of retired power batteries entering the market, more business opportunities are created for battery recycling companies. Qichacha data shows that over the past decade, the number of registered battery recycling-related enterprises in China has generally increased year by year, especially in 2021, when the annual registration volume surged 291.5% YoY to 27,600, reaching the peak growth rate of registrations in the past decade; by 2023, the cumulative number of registered battery recycling-related enterprises in China reached 46,400, the highest in the past decade. As of March 21, 2025, 8,733 battery recycling-related enterprises have been registered in China. In terms of establishment duration, there are 172,000 existing battery recycling-related enterprises in China, with the largest proportion being those established between 1 to 3 years, accounting for 42.5%, followed by those established within 1 year, accounting for 24.9%. Enterprises established within 3 years account for a combined 67.4%. Although the number of registered enterprises has increased year by year, it cannot be ignored that the power battery recycling industry does face some challenges and difficulties. Recently, data from the "Development White Paper of China's Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling and Cascade Utilization Industry (2025)" jointly released by research institutions EVTank, Yiyi Economic Research Institute, and China Battery Industry Research Institute shows that in 2024, the actual recycling volume of used lithium-ion batteries in China was 654,000 mt, growing only 5.0% YoY. Due to the impact of raw material prices, the entire market size of used lithium-ion battery recycling declined 31.0% YoY to 8.66 billion yuan. Looking ahead, EVTank expects that by 2030, China's lithium-ion battery recycling volume will reach 4.246 million mt. "Since 2024, due to the decline in upstream material prices, the economic viability of the battery recycling industry has weakened, and the enthusiasm of recycling companies has decreased. Apart from top-tier enterprises seeing revenue growth, most companies have experienced a dual decline in revenue and gross profit." However, the "White Paper (2025)" also points out that policies such as the MIIT's revision of the "Industry Standards for Comprehensive Utilization of Used Power Batteries for New Energy Vehicles (2024 Edition)" and the State Council's release of the "Action Plan for Improving the Recycling and Utilization System of New Energy Vehicle Power Batteries" will further raise the threshold for the white list of battery recycling. The phenomenon of "bad money driving out good" and "workshop-style" factories in the battery recycling industry will gradually disappear and exit, and the entire battery recycling industry will enter a new phase of regulated development. From the perspective of capacity construction, EVTank data shows that by the end of 2024, the cascade utilization and recycling dismantling capacity of white-listed lithium-ion batteries in China will be 4.233 million mt/year, with cascade utilization capacity at 2.042 million mt/year and recycling dismantling capacity at 2.191 million mt/year. The industry's capacity growth rate has already significantly slowed compared to before 2023, indicating the industry is entering a stage of rational development. According to the planning goals of various enterprises, by 2030, China's lithium-ion battery recycling capacity is expected to reach 11.092 million mt/year.