The chemical symbol for nickel sulphate (NiSO) projected onto a tank at a battery recycling plant in Kuppenheim, Germany. Experts are worried that South-East Asia has fallen behind in recycling at a time when governments in the region are pushing to replace more gas-guzzlers with electric vehicles. — Bloomberg
JAKARTA: When Jayden Goh started his battery recycling company in 2019, he was betting that rapid electrification of everything from cars to energy storage would make salvaging critical minerals from spent cells a pressing demand in South-East Asia.
Five years later, the Malaysian entrepreneur's EcoNiLi has expanded from its original small facility in West Java to operate four factories in three countries with annual capacity to recycle 86,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries, which are used by electric vehicles. Electrification has been championed as central in the transition away from fossil fuels, which account for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.
