South Korea Launches R&D Project to Recycle Fuel Cells and Rare Earth Magnets From Scrapped Hydrogen Vehicles

Published: Jun 11, 2026 10:02

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South Korea will launch a national R&D project to reuse fuel cells and rare earth permanent magnets recovered from scrapped hydrogen vehicles.

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute announced on June 8 that they will begin a national R&D project to safely dismantle end-of-life hydrogen vehicles and reuse or recycle their key components.

The ministry will invest KRW 40.8 billion from this year through 2029 to develop technologies in three major areas: safe removal of residual hydrogen and dismantling of key components; development of power generation systems using reused hydrogen storage tanks and fuel cells; and recovery of permanent magnets from end-of-life drive motors and conversion into high-purity rare earth materials.

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