End of Life Vehicle Directive
Evidence submitted to the consultation on the review
of the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Directive
The ELV working party involving ILA, EUROBAT and the car industry associations of Europe, Japan and South Korea has recently completed four projects that are designed to provide supporting evidence for the maintaining the exemption for lead-based batteries within the EU End of Life Vehicle Directive’s wider ban on lead in light-duty vehicles.
Further details on the projects are provided below:
- An evaluation of the different battery applications in vehicles, which concluded that lead-based batteries remained an essential application for the foreseeable future. See also the Executive Summary and Press release
- A study of the current collection and recycling rates associated with automotive lead-based batteries concluded that 99% of automotive lead based batteries were collected and recycled in the EU for the period 2010-2012. Press release
- A resource availability study of batteries used in automotive applications which found no resource availability issues for lead based batteries, but identifies some possible future resource available issues for the materials used in lithium based batteries. Press release
- And a life cycle assessment of lead-based batteries which concludes that the overall environmental footprint of a lead-acid battery is negligible in comparison with that of a vehicle. Press release
- Additional information on the features of automotive lead batteries can be found here. See also the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association infographic on lead batteries