Circular economy strategies driving innovation of electric vehicle batteries

Abstract

The key component in electric vehicles (EV) is the battery consisting of critical minerals and metals. One major concern is the recyclability and sustainability of EV batteries including these critical raw materials. Circular economy (CE) innovation, regulation, and business development would help to advance sustainability in the EV battery sector. We identify research streams and trends in academic research on how so-called CE R-strategies (e.g., reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture, repurpose, recycle, recover) are applied in the context of EV batteries through a bibliometrics analysis of 10,726 peer-reviewed academic publications. Our research contributes by mapping how different R-strategies drive circular innovation in the EV battery markets and categorizes them according to technology and impact. The results indicate how the circular innovation trends are implemented along the EV battery value chain. The findings are conceptualized into a framework that contributes to research on CE innovation, related technologies and business development.