Research Report
A Study for Improvement of Regulations on the management System of Used Mobility Batteries
Ⅰ. Backgrounds and Purposes
▶ The Republic of Korea has so far made efforts to respond to climate change issues.
○ In October 2020, Korea declared that it would reach carbon neutrality by 2050, and renewed the first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) at the end of 2020.
○ In 2021, Korea upgraded its first NDC to reduce the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 40% below 2018 levels by 2030, and submitted the updated NDC to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
▶ Energy-saving policies responding to climate changes are policies that can have a profound fundamental impact, and energy systems involving batteries can be a way to save energy and reduce carbon emissions from automobiles.
○ Representative applications of batteries include electric bicycles, passenger cars, cargo trucks, buses, ships, heavy equipment and drones, which highlights the importance of batteries as energy for means of transportation.
○ Korea has endeavored to promote the use of electric vehicles as a energy-saving means of transportation. It started to spread electric vehicles in 2013, and their use has been and is growing exponentially thus far.
▶ With the significant increase in the number of electric vehicles, the follow-up management of used-up batteries has emerged as a critical environmental and industrial issue.
Ⅱ. Major Content
▶ Analysis on the current status of environment-friendly vehicles and mobility batteries
○ With the rapid increase in the number of electric vehicles, the follow-up management of used-up batteries is likely to emerge as a serious environmental and industrial issue. Various mobility and means of transportation such as electric bicycles, passenger cars, cargo trucks, buses, ships, heavy equipment and drones use batteries as their source of energy. Of those, this study focuses on the used-up batteries of electric vehicles, which is looming as one of the most pressing issues today.
○ This study looks into eco-friendly vehicles such as electric vehicles, hydrogen electric vehicles, and hybrid vehicles, setting them apart from vehicles with internal combustion engines using fossil fuels. It analyzes the current status and outlook in the wide-spread uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) across the world, the current registration status of EVs in Korea, the components of a battery which is the power source for EVs, the current status in the generation of used-up mobility batteries and market outlook of such batteries.
▶ Analysis on major countries’ regulations related to batteries
○ This study investigates the management of batteries and used-up batteries, mainly looking into major countries that have regulations for reducing environmental hazards of batteries and promoting resource recirculation of used-up batteries. Focusing on European Union, Germany, United States, this study analyzes systems and regulations for managing batteries and used-up batteries.
▶ Analysis on the after-use management system of mobility batteries
○ In this study, we especially examine Korea’s regulations related to after-use management system of mobility batteries and lack thereof. This study investigates regulations encompassing recovering, storing, evaluating, reusing, remanufacturing, and recycling of used-up batteries and analyzes issues of the present regulation.
▶ Improvement measures to relax regulation in managing used-up mobility batteries
○ This study suggests ideas to improve regulation in managing used-up batteries, based on the content of study.
Ⅲ. Expected Effects
▶ Suggestions to improve regulation for managing used-up mobility batteries
○ It is necessary to formulate a “battery law” by integrating battery-related regulations scattered over various statutes in order to address the environmental hazards of batteries, promote the resource recirculation of wastes and ensure sustainability and safety across the entire life cycle of a battery.
○ Suggesting ideas to redefine reuse and remanufacturing under law to enable use of used-up batteries in various areas
○ Enhancing safety educations for removing and transporting used-up batteries
○ Formulating quality-certification standards for products remanufactured from used-up batteries