The standards implement Section 111 of the Clean Air Act, and are based on the Administrator's determination that lead-acid battery manufacturing facilities contribute significantly to air pollution, which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.
The intended effect of this regulation is to require new, modified, and reconstructed lead-acid battery manufacturing facilities to control lead emissions within the specified limits, which can be achieved through the use of the best demonstrated system of continuous emission reduction.
This technology strategy assessment on lead acid batteries, released as part of the Long-Duration Storage Shot, contains the findings from the Storage Innovations (SI) 2030 strategic initiative.
The targets for recycling efficiency of lead-acid batteries are increased, and new targets for lithium batteries are introduced, in light of the importance of lithium for the battery value chain. In addition, specific recovery targets for valuable materials – cobalt, lithium, lead and nickel – are set to be achieved by 2025 and 2030.
The new Regulation on batteries establish sustainability and safety requirements that batteries should comply with before being placed on the market. These rules are applicable to all batteries entering the EU market, independently of their origin.
According to some forecasts, at global and EU level, lead-acid technologies will still prevail in 2025 in terms of volume, but the lithium-ion market will become greater in terms of value from 2018 onwards. Between 2018 and 2030, global lead-acid battery demand may grow by a factor of around 1.1.