Innovation in battery recycling is growing strongly, with patents for battery reuse and recycling inventions increasing at an average annual rate of 42% between 2017 and 2023, the European Patent Office (EPO) said in a press release on Wednesday 29 April.
In a study carried out jointly with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the EPO points out that more than one in four cars sold worldwide in 2025 will be electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion or other modern batteries. “But around 1.2 million electric vehicle batteries could reach the end of their lives in 2030 and 14 million in 2040, and today’s supply chains for battery minerals and components are highly concentrated”.
Battery circularity was dominated by Asian companies, which accounted for 63% of international patent families (IPFs) in 2023. European innovation focused on collecting used batteries and chemically transforming them to provide the raw materials needed to manufacture new batteries.
Energy storage, including batteries, accounted for around 40% of all energy-related patents. Patents relating to battery circularity were also progressing faster than battery patents in general.
Until 2019, Japanese and Korean companies such as Toyota, LG and Panasonic were the leading applicants in this field. They have been overtaken by China’s Brunp, which helped increase China’s share of international patent families (IPFs) relating to battery circularity from 5% in 2013 to 29% in 2023.
European companies and research institutes accounted for around 20% of IPFs in battery circularity, with strong activity in technologies for collecting used batteries and for chemical transformation to provide the raw materials needed for manufacturing new batteries.
“With targeted EU-level policy support, this activity could form the basis of a robust European battery circularity ecosystem”, adds the press release.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/lqm (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)