On August 15, 2025, the Wuhan Power Battery Recycling Low-carbon Circular Industry Innovation Joint Laboratory (hereinafter referred to as the “Power Battery Recycling Laboratory”), jointly established by 12 core units of the new energy industry chain including GEM, Wuhan Power Recycling, Lantu Auto, CALB, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Wuhan University, was inaugurated and established at GEM (Wuhan) Urban Mining Low-carbon Industrial Park. It becomes the first industrial innovation joint laboratory established in Wuhan in 2025, marking that the battery recycling and utilization work in Wuhan has entered a new stage of alliance development with the support of outstanding academic and industrial units such as GEM. More than 100 guests, including Zhang Junyong, member of the Standing Committee of the Wuhan Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and Party Secretary of the Yangtze River New Area, leaders from the Municipal Bureau of Science and Technology Innovation and the Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, as well as representatives from universities, enterprises and the media, attended the event.

▲ The Power Battery Recycling Joint Laboratory, led by Wuhan Power Recycling, a subsidiary of the GEM, was inaugurated at the Wuhan industrial park of GEM.

The battery recycling laboratory is led by Wuhan Power Recycling, a leading enterprise in the field of battery recycling. It closely collaborates with top universities such as Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wuhan University, and widely attracts leading enterprises in key links of the new energy vehicle, robot, and recycling industries. It builds a collaborative innovation system that integrates basic research, technological breakthroughs, engineering-scale-up, and commercial application, aiming to solve resource bottlenecks and recycling challenges and promote the low-carbon circular utilization of the entire life cycle of power batteries.

▲ Professor Xu Kaihua, the director of the Academic Committee of the National Key Laboratory of Energy Metals and New Energy, the chairman of GEM, and the chief scientist of the Power Battery Recycling Laboratory, delivered a speech.

Professor Xu Kaihua, the director of the Academic Committee of the National Key Laboratory of Energy Metals and New Energy, the chairman of GEM, and the chief scientist of the Power Battery Recycling Laboratory, said in his speech that the establishment of the Power Battery Recycling Laboratory marks the beginning of the green era and the start of a new green journey for GEM's Wuhan park. He reviewed GEM's in-depth development in the battery recycling business field since 2008 and expressed his gratitude to the municipal committee of the Communist Party of China, the municipal government, the Yangtze River New District, Xinzhou District, as well as the academic community and the media for their long-term support and trust. Professor Xu Kaihua pointed out that battery recycling is an important national resource and environmental security strategy and also a key path to promoting the sustainable development of the new energy industry. At present, the scarcity of key resources such as cobalt, nickel and lithium in our country means that in the future, we must rely on recycling to ensure the security of strategic resources. He predicted that by 2030, the nickel, cobalt and lithium recovered from retired batteries would meet 30% of the demand, and by 2040 to 2050, recycled materials would become the mainstream supply. It is estimated that the global battery recycling and reuse industry will form a scale of 300 billion RMB by 2030 and reach the trillion-RMB level by 2050.

Regarding the construction of the laboratory, Professor Xu Kaihua has put forward three major goals: 1) To build a world-class innovation center for the recycling and utilization of power batteries, break through technical bottlenecks, and forge global core competitiveness; 2) Become the world's industrial center for recycling and re-manufacturing, and expand the application scenarios of battery recycling through digital platforms and supply chain construction. 3) It is even more necessary to become a practical center for the entire life recycling value chain of global power batteries. Three tasks have been clearly defined: establishing the Central China New Energy Aftermarket Maintenance Center, the Global Carbon Tax Settlement and Payment Center for recycling, and the Global Battery Passport Data Center to promote full life cycle management. He pointed out that the construction of the laboratory was the result of a combination of favorable timing, geographical advantages and human resources and could only be achieved on such fertile soil as that of Wuhan. The era of circularity has arrived. The path of Wuhan's circular industry will become increasingly broad, and its green development path will also become brighter and brighter. Professor Xu Kaihua called on everyone to join hands and move forward together towards a green future of battery recycling!

Zhang Junyong, member of the Standing Committee of the Wuhan Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and Party Secretary of the Yangtze River New Distrct, on behalf of the Party Working Committee and the Management Committee of the Yangtze River New District, extended his congratulations on the establishment of the Power Battery Recycling Laboratory. He pointed out that the unveiling of the laboratory marks a crucial step forward for Wuhan in deeply implementing the innovation-driven development strategy, accelerating the development of new quality productive forces, and promoting green and low-carbon transformation. The Power Battery Recycling Laboratory will focus on the fundamental, common and cutting-edge technologies in the field of low-carbon recycling of power batteries, integrate the forces of "industry, academia, research, application and finance", and be committed to solving the global problems of power battery recycling and utilization, contributing "Wuhan wisdom" and "New District Strength" to achieving efficient resource recycling and utilization.

▲ Dr. Zhang Yuping, the chairman of Wuhan Power Battery Recycling Technology Co., Ltd. and the director of the Power Battery Recycling Laboratory, introduced the

relevant construction progress of the laboratory

At the event site, Dr. Zhang Yuping, the chairman of Wuhan Power Battery Recycling Technology Co., Ltd. and the director of the Power Cycle Laboratory, introduced the industrial map and division of labor, development positioning and vision, as well as the ten key research projects and expected achievements of the joint laboratory. He pointed out that the laboratory will promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, achieve breakthroughs from "0 to 1 and from 1 to N", and explore the connection of the "sample - product - industry" chain for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.

Hu Jun, deputy director of the Municipal Bureau of Science and Technology Innovation, read out the notice on the establishment of the joint laboratory. Professor Xu Kaihua presented appointment letters to the members of the expert committee. Representatives of the laboratory and enterprises in the industrial chain signed strategic agreements. Subsequently, Professor Xu Kaihua and the leaders of the city and district jointly unveiled the plaque for the laboratory. The event also invited Professor Huang Yunhui, members of the expert committee and National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, and professor Li Miao to deliver special academic reports. The content covered high specific energy and high safety battery materials and humanoid robots empowering industrial innovation, promoting the deep integration of scientific research achievements and industries.

▲ A group photo of the guests at the unveiling ceremony of the Wuhan Power Battery Recycling Joint Laboratory and the signing of strategic cooperation agreements

The establishment of this laboratory is a crucial move for GEM and the "Central Pivot" Wuhan Industry-University Alliance to jointly explore scientific research and innovation. It also lays a high-quality foundation for GEM to promote its low-carbon and circular strategy for power batteries on a global scale through alliance cooperation.