Quebec could become the first territory in North America where it will be mandatory for manufacturers of electric vehicles to recover and then recycle their old batteries. The Minister of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, Benoit Charette, also plans to strengthen the standard on zero-emission vehicles to further accelerate the electrification of transport.
The Legault government has announced its intention to modernize the Regulation respecting the recovery and reclamation of products by businesses to make the businesses concerned responsible for the recovery and recycling of various agricultural and automotive products. The regulation will gradually include over the three years following its entry into force certain plastics and pesticides, refrigeration devices and pharmaceuticals. Rechargeable batteries for road vehicles, with the exception of lead-acid batteries, will therefore be covered by this regulation.
“This is a fairly strong signal that we are sending to the electric vehicle industry. We currently have in Quebec some 120,000 of these vehicles on the road, we had to act before having a million, ”explained to To have to Minister Charette to justify the time chosen to revisit this regulation.
Recover and revalue
In its new version, this regulation will oblige manufacturers to recover batteries which have reached the end of their useful life and then to recycle the various components. These include very precious metals for the automotive industry, such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. These recycled materials can then be reintroduced into the manufacture of new batteries.
Quebec does not go so far as to imitate the European Union, which intends to impose by the end of the decade that a minimum threshold of recycled materials enters the composition of new batteries sold on its territory. “We are not there yet, given that we do not yet have a battery manufacturing sector,” concedes the Minister. The latter echoes his counterpart in the Economy and Innovation, Pierre Fitzgibbon, and reiterates the government’s wish to create such a sector. In addition to the environmental gain, Quebec believes that obliging the recovery and recycling of batteries from electric vehicles that have reached the end of their useful life will promote the much desired creation of this Quebec industry.
“We have every interest in positioning ourselves early in this sector,” adds Benoit Charette. “There are millions of batteries that will need to be recycled. If we can develop effective recycling technology, these are significant economic opportunities that we will create for our businesses. “
Critics have pointed out that the regulations could hamper the reuse of old batteries before they are recycled, a lucrative opportunity that automakers are ultimately eyeing. Mr. Charette explains that the definition of a battery returned to the end of its “useful life” remains to be determined more precisely, and that it will be after the holding of public consultations that will take place on this new version of the regulation between the mid-October and the end of November.
Strengthen the VZE standard
Without giving further details, the Minister of the Environment also affirmed that the provincial standard on zero emission vehicles (ZEV) will in turn be revised within a few months in order to strengthen its incentives for the electrification of transport.
The Legault government still hopes that 30% of new vehicles sold in Quebec in 2030 will be electric, on the way to the outright ban on the sale of new light vehicles with thermal engines from 2035. At the current rate, the volume of sales of vehicles Electric vehicles are doubling every two years in the province, growth that should be sufficient to meet these targets, said the minister.
The marketing of the first fully electric pickup trucks in the coming months could accelerate this transition, even if their prices remain high. Groups promoting electric transport have also asked the government to include these vehicles in its assistance for the purchase of zero-emission vehicles. Provincial assistance can reach $ 8,000 on some models, but currently excludes pickup trucks and used electric vehicles sold in the province.