China and Germany expand NEV cooperation
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E-mail China Daily, June 20, 2016
Zhou Xin, deputy general manager of Allydata Technology, has pinpointed a number of possible issues in the recycling business and market profitability.
"As a must-have core part, battery production costs for all other automakers take up 30 to 40 percent of the production cost for the entire NEV. The value of a used car and a used battery unit depreciate throughout their lifecycle. By contrast, the retail price of new batteries has not dropped significantly," said Zhou.
He continued: "It is a question of whether to replace a battery or the car. NEVs are a fairly new phenomenon, so no one really knows what will happen with them in future."
The Technological Policy on Electric Vehicle Traction Battery Recycling and Reusing, issued in February, places used traction batteries into five categories, including failure to meet performance standards and batteries removed from scrapped cars.
The policy specifies that NEV makers shoulder the major responsibility of recycling and reusing the batteries in their products.
Zhou said: "Car makers will progressively launch stronger warranty terms guaranteeing that batteries will retain a certain level of power after three or five years of use, just like the three-year 100,000 km warranty that some vehicles have."
He stated that the first batch of China-made NEVs would be given three to five years to finish their first cycle.
Those NEV makers not recycling traction batteries will sell battery units at a cheap price to a professional company that will recycle them for use in new NEVs or for other purposes. However, they will be resold at a much higher price, according to Zhou.
Uniting for common cause
Sino-German cooperation covers a range of areas, including NEV safety, NEV energy consumption evaluation, traction battery safety and reliability and battery recycling.
China and Germany also have a common interest in the unified NEV charging standard, and are willing to strengthen cooperation on newenergy cars.
They expect intelligent traffic systems to help NEVs set new standards in safety, clean fuels and high efficiency mobility. Both countries decided to extend exchanges and further cooperation related to traffic technologies.
During German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to China last week, Daimler AG signed a 4-billion-yuan ($607.4 million) deal with its Chinese partner BAIC Motor to expand the engine plant at joint venture Beijing Benz Automotive Co, to increase the company's local footprint and ensure its sustainable growth in China.
Merkel witnessed on June 14 the new BMW X1 plug-in hybrid rolling off the production line at BMW Brilliance's Tiexi Plant in Shenyang, capital city of Liaoning province.
The Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Traction Battery Recycle and Reuse was inked in June 2013 between China's National Development and Reform Commission and the German Federal Environment Agency, and led to the establishing of a working group to further cooperation efforts.
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