Blockchain technology embedded in the power battery for echelon recycling selection under the mechanism of traceability

Abstract This paper examines the use of blockchain technology in power battery echelon recycling. The technology helps to improve battery capacity identification and market transaction trust. The study focuses on power battery manufacturers and recycling participants. Two recycling modes are constructed using the Stackelberg game method, and the optimal decision-making of the participating subjects in the two modes of power battery echelon recycling under the embedding of blockchain technology is compared. The influence of each parameter on the optimal decision-making is analyzed. The research findings indicate that the degree of blockchain technology integration rises as the preference coefficient for traceability information increases. When recycling competition is intense and the sensitivity of recycling prices is low, the optimal recycling model for the number of spent power batteries (SPBs) to be recycled is the model in which echelon utilizers do not participate in recycling if the level of cost optimization coefficient embedded in blockchain technology is high, otherwise, it is the model in which echelon utilizers participate in recycling. The profit of power battery manufacturers and echelon utilizers decreases with the increase of the intensity of power battery recycling competition, the cost optimization coefficient of echelon utilizers and the cost optimization coefficient of manufacturers.