The battery recycling market is largely price driven as technology is not a critical differentiating factor. All the key participants adopt the same level of technology in their product offerings. Price becomes the key differentiating factor, which in a competitive environment reduces profitability for battery recycling companies. Specialized processes and dedicated small scale recycling plants which are close to vehicle manufacturers are likely to be the fashion in the future. The main challenge preventing the industry is the long-run nature of financial investments asked by market participants to develop specialized waste disposal services. As the market is still unexplored, the specific effects and overall profitability of these investments remain unknown and create ambiguity and uncertainty about making such commitments. 

With lithium recycling in its infancy, there is currently no main recycling infrastructure in the world that treats only automotive Li-ion battery. Lack of standardization in battery chemistries and changing landscape with respect to different elements under research for battery production have made evaluation of the recycled value of the components uncertain for the recyclers. Future battery chemistries under research and development, such as phosphate or manganese-based chemistries have little or no valuable metals like cobalt or nickel. Thus, there is a net negative value for recycling as the effort to recycle only for lithium from these chemistries would be very high. 

Therefore, recycling in the long-run would be for ecological benefits and for adherence to environmental laws. For the future, recycling of Li-ion alkaline battery is expected to be one of the main sources of lithium supply. Unlike oil, where the volatile price fluctuations will lead to increase in only the running costs, potential price fluctuations of lithium would impact the total purchase price of the car. Henceforth, recycling is expected be one of the ways to hedge against the uncertain and potential price fluctuations arising due to geo-political or other barriers.