Geely spin-off Yaoning New Energy invests in 10,000 tpa recycling line in Jiangsu

Yaoning New Energy has invested in a joint venture with Shanghai Tianqian Consulting Management Partnership with the purpose to set up a 10,000 tonnes per year recycling line in Jiangsu, in China. The plant is expected to be commissioned in July 2024. The plant can be expanded in two phases (40,000 tonnes + 50,0000 tonnes) to meet a demand of 100,000 tonnes of battery waste per year. This could be the case as early as by the end of 2026.

Yaoning New Energy is a subsidiary to Yaoning Technology which was spun out of Geely Automotive's part and after market business. Since its start the company, which is headquartered in Hangzhou Bay in the Zhejiang Province, has grown rapidly mainly in production of lithium-iron phosphate batteries with a production capacity of 32 GWh since the last expansion.

The information from Yaoning does not reviel whether the plant only will be pre-processing of scrap or whether it will be full material recovery. However the company has been involved in lithium extraction which makes it likely that there is at least some recovery involved and that the main target is lithium from lithium ironphosphate batteries.