The battery market - France

Batteries and accumulators are electrochemical generators used as primary or secondary power sources in many appliances, machines and vehicles. There are different types of battery: alkaline batteries, button cells, rechargeable batteries, special batteries and salt batteries. Overa billion batteries are put on the market every year, representing over 200,000 tonnes of material, raising the problem of how to recycle battery waste every year. In France, two eco-organizations are responsible for organizing battery collection (COREPILE and SCRELEC), with several hundred members (including manufacturers, importers and distributors of batteries and accumulators). In regulatory terms, since 2010, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe) has required manufacturers, importers and producers of this type of product to make a declaration via a National Register of Battery and Accumulator Producers, as part of the implementation of the Order of November 18, 2009. This order is one of the decrees implementing Decree 2009-1139 of September 22, 2009 on the marketing of batteries and accumulators and the disposal of spent batteries and accumulators, which transpose European Directive 2006/66/EC. The Register is the successor to the former Batteries and Accumulators Observatory. The aims of the Register are to identify producers in France and to compile annual declarations from producers and treatment operators: regulations require them to report annually to the Register on the quantities of batteries and accumulators placed on the market, collected and treated. Worldwide, the battery market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 8.03% over the period 2023-2028. Competition is fierce, as the ecological stakes are colossal, as is the effort required in terms of research and development. With the prospect of an energy transition, the future lies in devices that use fewer batteries and more " portable batteries and accumulators ". players are therefore looking for the most reliable and inexpensive business model and technology. For several years now, the trend has been for portable batteries to be replaced by portable accumulators in many devices. This phenomenon is essentially linked to the sale of electrical and electronic appliances with built-in accumulators. On the other hand, the replacement of alkaline and saline batteries by accumulators, commonly known as "rechargeable batteries", is proceeding more slowly.