China’s EV Market Is Booming. There’s Just One Problem

After spending the past decade building the world’s largest electric vehicle market, China is confronting one consequence of its success: a growing wave of batteries nearing the end of their service life. Annual sales of battery-powered vehicles in China, including fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, have surged from about 1 million in 2018 to more than 16 million in 2025. With EV batteries typically lasting about eight years, the country is entering its first major wave of battery retirements. The number of batteries requiring disposal or reprocessing is expected to grow rapidly in the years ahead. That poses a major waste-management and recycling challenge for the nation. China reported 400,000 metric tons of EV battery waste last year. A joint study by researchers in China and the United States projected that the figure could grow…