Challenges and trends in automotive battery recycling

The electrification of the automotive industry is driving a rapid global expansion of battery production, which generates substantial volumes of waste from both manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries. Consequently, recycling capacities must scale significantly from 2026 onwards, while recyclers face major challenges: meeting regulatory requirements, establishing efficient reverse logistics and coping with the growing complexity of return streams, system designs, cell formats, and evolving chemistries. Here we provide a comprehensive overview of current recycling technologies and assess their compatibility with both state-of-the-art and next-generation batteries, highlighting the technical and economic challenges of managing diverse battery waste. We show that although established processes are largely suitable for today’s lithium-ion chemistries, future systems such as sodium-ion and solid-state batteries will require process adaptation. Beyond technical aspects, we identify seven key trends to enhance recycling economics, optimize material flows and support the development of a fully circular battery industry in the future.