A Review of Reverse Logistics Network Planning for Retired Power Batteries

Abstract

The rapid expansion of China's new-energy vehicle industry has driven an unprecedented surge in power-battery installations, making the large-scale management of retired batteries an increasingly urgent challenge. These batteries retain substantial residual capacity and, if subjected to scientifically grounded cascade utilization and recycling, could alleviate mounting pressures on critical resources such as lithium, nickel and cobalt, reduce China's external dependence on these materials, and maximize the value recovered from end-of-life batteries. Yet the absence of adequate treatment pathways poses a countervailing risk: improperly managed retired batteries can generate severe secondary environmental pollution with unpredictable ecological consequences. China's battery-recycling system remains at an early stage of development, underscoring the urgent need for a robust and efficient reverse logistics network. This study therefore focuses on reverse logistics network planning for retired power batteries from new-energy vehicles and offers a comprehensive review of existing research. It systematically examines relevant policies and the state of the art in reverse logistics network planning, revealing notable gaps: policy-oriented studies tend to concentrate on strategic interactions among subsidy recipients within game-theoretic frameworks while neglecting network planning after government subsidies, whereas network-planning studies rarely incorporate the effects of government subsidies. The study further identifies future research directions and likely development trends, aiming to provide theoretical and practical guidance for building a sound power-battery recycling system, promoting the sustainable development of the new-energy vehicle industry, and achieving the dual objectives of economic growth and environmental protection.