Sortbat says the next EV battery recycling challenge is not theory, but operational readiness. After handling more than 30,000 packs, Daniel Cheret argues that safety protocols, certified logistics, dismantling data, technician training and local partnerships will be essential as Europe’s first major wave of end-of-life EV batteries accelerates.
Daniel Cheret, CEO of Sortbat, explains what a decade of handling more than 30,000 end-of-life EV battery packs has taught the company about safety, logistics, dismantling and second-life routing. As Europe’s first major wave of EV batteries reaches the end of life, he argues that the sector must build practical partnerships before volumes accelerate.
The first wave of mass-market electric vehicles to reach Norwegian roads in the early 2010s, Nissan Leafs from 2011, Tesla Model S from 2013, is now reaching the end of its first life. The same curve is building across Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Benelux, and it is about to crest in the UK, Germany and France. Hundreds of thousands of used EV battery packs a year today, millions by 2030, are heading towards recycling and dismantling yards that, in most countries, have never processed one at scale.
At Sortbat, we have spent the last decade doing exactly that. Our teams in those five markets have collected and dismantled more than 30,000 end-of-life EV battery packs. That volume is not a marketing number; it represents a decade of refined processes, protocols written from near-misses, cross-border logistics solved, and an operational playbook that works.
A few lessons become obvious when you have moved that many packs.
Safety is a daily discipline, not a project you finish. An EV battery pack is a live, risky product, high-voltage, high-energy, and chemically loaded. What looks like scrap to an outsider is a dangerous good the moment anything goes wrong. Safe disassembly demands trained technicians, strict electrical isolation protocols, thermal-event containment, and the clinical habit of treating every pack as if it could fail. After 30,000 packs, our first discipline is not dismantling; it is never forgetting that the product on the bench is a hazard.
Logistics is half the problem, and too often underestimated. A pack weighs 300 to 600 kilograms and, once damaged or defective, is classified as UN3480/3481 dangerous goods. That is why we have invested so heavily in certified packaging for both stable and hazardous batteries; collection networks must handle that variability every day, from the dealer forecourt to the authorised treatment facility, sometimes across borders. The country that gets collection right will recycle well. The country that does not, will not.
The diversity of batteries is enormous, and it keeps compounding. Every OEM designs its pack differently: cell chemistry, module architecture, BMS access, thermal management, and the mountings and fixings that hold everything together. Two packs from the same manufacturer, one generation apart, often share nothing you can take for granted. We have built dismantling procedures for nearly 300 pack configurations, and the value of that library compounds: a known pack comes apart in a fraction of the time of a first-of-kind. This is exactly the kind of know-how that accumulates slowly, then suddenly.
And timing matters. The new EU ELV Regulation and the UK’s evolving framework will push the industry towards higher recovery rates and stricter traceability, just as the volume wave hits. Operators who have already processed meaningful volumes will cope. Operators starting from their first pack in 2026 will find the learning curve brutal and expensive.
Sortbat is now actively looking for partners across Europe and in the UK, not to sell a service, but to share an operational platform paid for with ten years of real-world volume.
Collection infrastructure, certified packaging for stable and hazardous batteries, dismantling SOPs for nearly 300 configurations, technician training, and, through our sister company Watt4ever, state-of-health diagnostics and second-life routing for modules with remaining useful life. All of it scales better through partnership with strong local operators than through head-on expansion.
The UK market, in particular, has the fundamentals to move quickly: a concentrated OEM footprint, a strong community of authorised treatment facilities, and regulators engaging seriously with the challenge. What it lacks is a decade of pack-level operational data. We would rather help the industry skip that decade than watch each country relearn the same early lessons.
The circular economy for EV batteries will not be built by a single player or in a single country. It will be built pack by pack, partnership by partnership, country by country. Sortbat has done its share of the early, difficult work. We are ready to put that experience on the table and to be part of the conversation that shapes what comes next.
About Daniel Cheret
Daniel Cheret is CEO of Sortbat, which operates EV battery collection and dismantling across Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Benelux. Sortbat’s sister company, Watt4ever, specialises in state-of-health diagnostics and second-life battery solutions. sortbat.eu
Further Reading on Auto Recycling World
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Data Sharing For Circular End-of-life EV Batteries
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EV Battery Recycling – Needs Clear Policy
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Toyota Tsusho Strengthens EV-battery Recycling From Collection To Recycle Stages
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The Future Is NEUTRAL Extends Its AutoLOOP Digital Platform To The Collection Of Electric Vehicle Batteries
