Quebec Launches First EV Battery Recovery Program in North America

When it comes to developing a circular economy, recycling electric vehicle batteries is certainly a top priority for the coming years and decades, especially with supply issues potentially affecting new battery production.

The province of Québec is positioning itself as a leader, as evidenced by the new industry-funded EV battery recovery program that was officially launched on June 28—the first of its kind in North America—along with a dedicated platform: EVBatteryRecovery.ca.

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This program is offered for free to vehicle dismantlers, recyclers and shredders, car dealers, independent auto repair shops, fleet operators and even individual vehicle owners. It currently operates in Quebec for all participating vehicle manufacturers.

Automakers selling electric vehicles in the Canadian market have already established recovery and management practices for EV batteries under warranty, subject to recall, or returned through their network. The EV Battery Recovery program complements actions already in place and delivers on the automakers’ commitment to the Government of Québec to have a program in place to ensure eligible EV batteries at risk of not being recycled or reused at end-of-life are responsibly managed and recovered.

To be clear, hybrid and plug-in hybrid batteries are also included. Same thing for hydrogen fuel cells.

All batteries collected will either be remanufactured for reuse in vehicles, repurposed for alternate use, recycled back to original metals for use in new products, or sent to vehicle manufacturer R&D centres for analysis. They will never be sent to landfill.

The online platform was developed with the help of Call2Recycle, a Canadian organization with extensive experience in end-of-life battery management for multiple businesses and sectors across the country.