The Bicycle Association (BA) industry body will set up a new UK-wise electric bike battery collection and recycling service, in order to help both riders and retailers easily deal with of drained batteries.
The UK cycling trade body has appointed European Recycling Platform UK (ERP UK) to run the scheme, which it is launching in anticipation of an expected significant growth in e-bike sales in the near-future.
The best e-bike news in your inbox: sign up for our FREE newsletter
The scheme will organise the collection and processing of used e-bike batteries, including ensure that they can be dealt with safely and recycled. That is key to helping minimise the environmental impact of e-bikes.
The scheme will be based on those in place in other European markets, which usually involved both e-bike producers and retailers. The retail shops act as collection points for drained batteries from the public, simplifying the collection process and helping to reduce costs.
Move Electric's best electric bikes for 2023
The BA and ERP will launch a trial scheme shortly, with a full national rollout planed later this year.
Stephen Holt, the BA’s retail trade boss, said: “With millions of electric bike sales ahead of us, this is an exciting initiative that will make it easy for retailers to safely store faulty and expired batteries in one fireproof rated drum – with one phone call when full to get it swapped out. With the support of electric bike producers, we hope to provide a national network of hundreds of collection points convenient for customers.”
ERP already runs a number of e-bike battery recycling schemes and similar initiatives in other European countries, as part of a focus on developing a ‘circular economy’, in which products no longer needed are reused or recycled.
John Redmayne, ERP UK’s boss, added: “With growing numbers of E-bikes in use, the need for the sector to safely and responsibly deal with end of life batteries has been highlighted. We are looking forward to working with the Association and using our experience in engineering circular economy solutions to develop a sector-specific service.”
READ MORE
Subscribe to the Move Electric newsletter
e-CARS
Ten electric cars we're excited for in 2023
Getting an EV sideways: how easy is it to drift a Kia EV6 GT?
Q&A: Jaguar Racing's Sam Bird and Mitch Evans on Formula E's new era
e-BIKES
Ten electric bikes we're excited for in 2023
Can you get fit using an electric bike?
e-MOTORBIKES
Ten electric motorbikes we're excited for in 2023
Super Soco TC Max electric motorbike review
Cake and Polestar team up for new special edition Makka e-motorbike
e-SCOOTERS
Planned laws to legalise private e-scooters face delay
Five key takeaways from the rental e-scooter trials report
Which train firms have banned e-scooters from their services?
e-WORLD
Move Electric's best features of 2022: lap records, tuk-tuks… and sausage rolls
Volvo Trucks keeps on electric trucking with three new models