Battery recycling and reuse technologies drive patent growth

As set out in the EPO’s recently-released Technology Dashboard 2025 (its annual summary of key figures and trends in patent activity), growth in the field of battery technologies continues unabated, with the number of patent filings increasing by 340% in the last decade.  

This reflects surging global battery demand and production.

The battery circularity boom #

In line with this, attention has turned to battery circularity technologies to enable reuse and recycling of batteries, with multiple jurisdictions including the EU, China, India, and individual US states, passing legislation in the past few years to address issues around battery waste management.  As explained in the 2025 Annual Battery Report from the Volta Foundation, these new regulations establish standards and targets for metrics such as material recovery rates from used batteries, as well as minimum recycled content requirements for new batteries.

The latest technology insight report by the EPO and the International Energy Agency (IEA), released last month (Battery circularity - Innovation trends for a future source of critical materials), expands on this theme, setting out the results of a deep dive into patenting trends in this sector, which saw patent filings grow at a compound annual rate of 42% in the period 2017-2023.

Recovering critical battery materials #

As expected, technology hotspots in battery circularity include metallurgical methods for the recovery of battery materials, with patent filings relating to hydrometallurgy; pyrometallurgy; and pyrolytic pre-treatment and hydrometallurgical extraction consistently ranking in the top five most patented technologies.  

However, in order to reach this stage of the recycling process, it is necessary to address challenges associated with the collection and management of growing volumes of used batteries.  European organisations have been particularly active in this area, which includes designing systems to allow for the collection and transportation of used batteries while avoiding short circuits, as well as developing remote handling machinery, so that workers are kept at a safe distance from potentially hazardous batteries.

Giving batteries a second life #

The report also highlights alternative approaches to recycling, such as repurposing to give used batteries a “second life” instead of directly recycling them. For example, old electric vehicle packs can be reused in stationary energy storage applications, communication base stations, or low-speed vehicles where lower performance is still acceptable.  New developments in state of health analytics allow informed decision-making as to whether a battery should be reused, repaired or recycled.

There is no question that economic opportunities and legal requirements will continue to drive growth in this sector, so any organisation looking to maintain its position in this fast-moving and competitive landscape will need to ensure that its IP is defined and protected.

If you work in this area or in the energy sector more generally, and would like to discuss how best to protect your innovations at the EPO and internationally, please get in touch with the Murgitroyd team.