Research on Power Battery Recycling in the Green Closed-Loop Supply Chain: An Evolutionary Game-Theoretic Analysis

The used power batteries of new energy vehicles have become a combined issue of environmental pollution, resource scarcity, and economic sustainability. Power battery recycling is inevitably becoming the key link in the formation of the green closed-loop supply chain for new energy vehicles and the green cycle of the new energy vehicles industry. This study establishes a three-party evolutionary game model of “new energy vehicle manufacturers, power battery manufacturers, and power battery recyclers”, simulates the dynamic evolution process of each game player’s strategy, and analyzes the effects of the digital transformation factor and other factors leading to the evolution trend. The main results show that: (i) in the absence of sufficient incentives and constraints, the green closed-loop power battery supply chain cannot be formed naturally; (ii) digital transformation is an important factor in the journey of the green closed-loop supply chain for power battery recycling, and (iii) government rewards and penalties can promote the formation of the green closed-loop supply chain for power batteries. This research innovatively investigates the concept of the green closed-loop power battery supply chain and its formation mechanism, which provides theoretical support to promote the recycling of used power batteries to achieve sustainability.