Electric Vehicle Battery Waste Needs to Be a Concern for EV Manufacturers

KatadataOTO – In the midst of the electrification era, battery waste from electric cars is considered to be a concern for all parties, including manufacturers of EVs (Electric Vehicles).

Electric car batteries that are no longer in use can be reprocessed and used for various other needs.

“In general, we have also asked our friends who make (electric cars) to set up battery recycling,” said Rachmat Kaimuddin, Deputy for Coordination of Basic Infrastructure at the Coordinating Ministry for Infrastructure and Regional Development of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta recently.

He explained that, firstly, batteries can be used as an energy storage system, like a large power bank.

Photo : KatadataOTO

An energy storage system or ESS can then store large-scale electrical power from renewable energy sources. For example, solar and hydro.

The great potential in the battery waste processing sector, according to Rachmat, is an advantage for environmentally friendly vehicles in Indonesia.

“With oil (or gasoline-powered cars), we can't capture the CO2 and turn it back into fuel,” he said.

Challenges of Battery Waste Processing in Indonesia

The infrastructure for battery waste processing in Indonesia is said to be non-existent at present. This needs to be a concern for various parties, considering the electric car population in the country is slowly growing.

“We are aware that in three to four years, there will likely be many used batteries from EVs. We want to recycle the batteries,” said Ary Sudjianto, Deputy for Climate Change Control and Carbon Economic Value Governance at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry/BPLH at the JAMA Oil Lube Seminar some time ago.

Moreover, the government has a high target for the number of electric vehicles by 2030. The government is considered to need to immediately think about the processing of electric car battery waste.

Photo : Carscoops

“We will discuss the policy, talk about how we handle EV batteries. This is bigger than conventional battery waste,” he asserted.

According to Ary, waste processing for these power storage units is only available for conventional batteries. The facilities involve a number of industries.

However, special infrastructure for recycling electric car batteries, which have large sizes and capacities, is not yet available.