As Chile turns to the market to seek out operators to increase its lithium production, the world’s largest manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, China’s CATL, announced a US$5,000 million investment to build a recycling plant for these types of batteries.

The company's announcement comes at a time when the industry expects the supply of materials for battery manufacturing to enter a state of shortage. At the same time, the industry notes that, for environmental reasons, it will become critical in a few years to have facilities for recycling electric vehicle batteries that have reached the end of their life cycle. Recycling will allow materials to be recovered for reuse in battery manufacturing.

A study by the consulting firm IDTechEx estimates that the electric vehicle battery recycling market will reach an annual value of US$31,000 million by 2040. According to the consulting firm, 50% of battery recycling will take place in China, the leading market for electric vehicles. The useful life of a lithium-ion battery in an electric vehicle is estimated at around 180,000 kilometers.