China's MIIT Revises Used EV Battery Management Rules, Whitelist Companies Cut by 70%
Miles Bennett
China's MIIT removed roughly 70% of firms from its EV battery recycling whitelist — slashing the roster from 156 to 48 — while scrapping all cascade-reuse provisions; retired batteries repurposed into products must now meet the same safety standards as new ones, closing a long-standing regulatory grey zone.
Why did the whitelist lose seven out of ten names?
Of the original 156 whitelisted firms, roughly 108 were removed — including units tied to BYD, Gotion High-Tech, and SVOLT Energy.
The 48 survivors are primarily in materials recovery, dismantling, and smelting. This means → MIIT narrowed the circle of "who may handle retired batteries" to pure recyclers only.
In plain terms = the old list mixed recyclers and refurbishers; this revision swept out nearly all the refurbishers.
What went wrong with cascade reuse?
Cascade reuse — reassembling retired battery cells for second-life use in energy storage or low-speed vehicles — is a sound concept, but execution broke down.
Some operators repackaged retired cells with minimal testing and sold them into e-bike and sub-100 kWh storage markets.
The direct result: multiple thermal-runaway fires. This reflects a pattern where "cascade reuse" became cover for selling low-quality refurbished packs — a commercial shortcut that escalated into a public-safety crisis.
What changed in the regulatory logic?
The rule shifts from regulating a concept to regulating a product. In plain terms = before, the question was "are you licensed for cascade reuse?"; now it is "does your output pass the same tests as a new battery?"
Repurposed battery products no longer enjoy relaxed standards; they enter the general battery-manufacturing framework and must meet the same quality and safety benchmarks as new products.
A hard ban now applies: retired cells are explicitly prohibited in e-bikes, e-motorcycles, self-balancing vehicles, and storage systems above 100 kWh.
Can cascade reuse survive the new rules?
The revision does not kill cascade reuse outright — it raises the bar to new-product level. This means → if a refurbished pack passes new-product-grade testing, it can still reach market.
But the industry has long faced a stubborn reality: the testing and maintenance cost of ensuring second-life stability may exceed the cost of buying new cells.
In plain terms = once standards match new-product levels, whether cascade reuse still makes economic sense is the make-or-break question for the entire segment.
What does this mean for the market landscape?
China's retired EV battery stock is projected to exceed 2 million tonnes before 2030 — what is exiting is not demand, but unqualified supply.
This means → smaller operators lacking technical and compliance capacity will be forced out faster, concentrating resources among large, compliance-ready recyclers.
This signals a clear policy direction: the next phase of battery recycling is scale and standardisation, not an open field where anyone can pick up cheap cells.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.