China just rewrote the rulebook for retired battery rules. Announcement No. 20 of 2026, published by MIIT on July 30, kills the old cascade-use administration. No more announcement lists. No more second-life packs stitched together from aged cells. From here on, a retired battery is a material resource, not a product.
For TOBGROUP — an integrated battery solutions provider serving more than 6,000 factories, universities, and research institutions across 30+ countries — the direction is familiar. Build compliant, application-grade batteries from qualified materials. Recover materials at end of life. Don’t resell tired cells.
The retired battery rules confirm that path. And these retired battery rules change who wins in this market.
What the Retired Battery Rules Change
Four things moved.
First, cascade-use enterprise administration is gone. The 2024 edition’s cascade-use provisions are repealed, the enterprise announcement list is cancelled, and previously listed cascade-use enterprises are removed. The regeneration (material recycling) list stays.
Second, product compliance is now application-grade or nothing. Any battery product made from retired power batteries — whole, split, reorganized, or reassembled — must meet the quality standards of the application it enters. Electric bicycles are explicitly off-limits, along with anything else blocked by law, regulation, or mandatory standard.
Third, the standards themselves are being cleaned up. National and industry standards tied to cascade utilization are under review for repeal or revision, so the framework matches the new management direction.
Fourth, enforcement gets teeth. Authorities are directed to investigate and punish non-compliant production. Social organizations must stop cascade-use promotion, exhibitions, consulting, and training.
In short: the door on unregulated second-life reuse just closed.
What the Retired Battery Rules Mean for Manufacturers
The retired battery rules don’t ban reuse. They redefine it.
Material-level recycling is now the compliant end-of-life pathway. With the regeneration list retained and cascade-use administration scrapped, the policy points the industry toward recovering cathode and anode active materials, foils, and other components — not reassembling aged cells into consumer products.
Here’s the failure scenario most people miss. Suppose your plant buys recovered battery packs, tears them down, and welds the cells into e-bike batteries. That model worked under the old grey zone. Under Announcement No. 20, it’s a compliance landmine. One inspection, one complaint, and you’re facing enforcement action with no qualifying list to fall back on. The product standard is the application’s standard, and no exception exists for “recovered” materials.
Quality systems now decide who survives. Any battery product entering an application must meet that application’s requirements, whether its inputs are virgin or recycled. That raises the bar for every manufacturer and strengthens suppliers with mature quality infrastructure and traceable process control.
New-battery capacity becomes more valuable. As second-life channels close, demand shifts to compliant application-grade cells — and to the equipment, materials, and process engineering that produce them. For global buyers, the retired battery rules also tighten the sourcing picture: recycled feedstock must be validated, and new cells must carry their own compliance proof.
Where TOBGROUP Fits
TOBGROUP’s integrated model — battery production equipment, and turnkey battery production lines — is built for this transition.
Compliant new-battery production. TOBGROUP designs and delivers production lines that manufacture new cells from qualified materials, covering electrode preparation, cell assembly, formation, and testing. The engineering starts with the application, not the catalogue: chemistry, format, throughput, and quality requirements are locked in before equipment is configured.
Application-grade quality systems. TOBGROUP’s quality and certification infrastructure — including IATF 16949 automotive-grade quality management, ISO 9001/14001/45001 systems, CE and UL product certifications, and a TÜV Rheinland on-site supplier assessment — demonstrates the control discipline the new policy demands: stable processes, traceable quality, verified compliance.
Material recovery support. With regeneration now the retained framework for retired-battery comprehensive utilization, TOBGROUP’s battery materials business and process engineering capabilities help customers work with recovered feedstocks — material characterization, small-batch custom materials, and pilot-line validation of recycling-derived inputs.
R&D depth across chemistries. TOBGROUP’s 3,000+ square-meter R&D center, 60+ national patents, and joint laboratory with Central South University keep the company current across LFP, NMC, LCO, LMFP, sodium-ion, and solid-state — the knowledge base manufacturers need when adapting lines to new compliance demands. See our sodium-ion production lines and solid-state battery lines for where that R&D lands in production.
Commissioning and after-sales support. Every TOBGROUP engagement includes installation, commissioning, operator training, spare parts, and process debugging — the practical layer that helps customers stabilize yield while regulations shift. Recent projects show how these systems come together on the factory floor.
A Higher-Quality Battery Future
The retired battery rules reflect a maturing industry. Retired batteries are a material resource to be recovered responsibly, not a feedstock for low-cost, non-compliant products.
For manufacturers, the message is direct. Build compliant, quality-verified products. Treat end-of-life batteries as materials to recycle, not cells to resell.
TOBGROUP is aligned with that direction. With integrated capabilities across equipment, materials, process engineering, and production-line delivery, the company supports customers building compliant battery manufacturing capacity — from lab-scale R&D to GWh-scale production.
Source: MIIT Announcement No. 20 (2026), Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, July 30, 2026.
TOBGROUP is an integrated battery solutions provider supplying battery production equipment, turnkey production lines from lab scale to GWh scale. Serving 6,000+ customers across 30+ countries. Learn more at tobgroup.net.
