By Steven Marshall, Chief Operating Officer, Livium

Recall notices currently cover approximately 7,900 electric vehicles in Australia with high-voltage battery-related defects, including many mainstream EV models. Home batteries are also affected. Certain Tesla Powerwall 2 systems are under recall due to the risk of cell failure and overheating, as are a range of LG residential energy storage batteries.

These are batteries with known defects and they are sitting in the garages, driveways and homes of everyday Australians. Recalls attract attention when they are announced. Far less attention is paid to how long faulty batteries remain in place, and what happens to them once they are removed.

Today, both questions are largely left to manufacturers. Government needs to set clear, enforceable standards for both with consumer safety as the priority.

Remediation is slow by design

Recall remediation is costly for manufacturers, so it is typically staged. Software updates come first, then component repairs or module replacements. Full battery replacement happens only when those steps are insufficient.

The result is that a defective battery can stay in a home or vehicle for months, and in some cases years, after a recall notice is issued. In the meantime owners are left to manage the risk themselves. For example, car owners for a recent recall have been told to keep their battery charge below 70% until a remedy is available. This is terrifying given we know how much damage battery fires can cause.

When removal does happen, the volumes reach recyclers gradually and unevenly. Planning follows current volumes rather than future ones. If collection, transport and processing capacity is built only after volumes rise, removed batteries will sit in depots and storage with nowhere safe to go.

Specialist handling required

Every lithium-ion battery at end of life requires careful handling. Recalled batteries require more. They are already known to be defective, often in ways linked to overheating or cell failure.

Collecting, storing, transporting, discharging and processing these batteries safely requires trained people, appropriate facilities and proven procedures. That capability cannot be added to a general waste operation, or developed under time pressure once volumes rise. Yet there is no consistent national requirement for recalled batteries to go to an operator that has it.

What government should require

A recall notice tells owners there is a problem. It should also tell them how and when that problem will leave their home. Government should require:

• Removal timeframes. A clear maximum timeframe for removing any battery confirmed to carry a fire or overheating risk.

• Specialist disposal. Every removed recalled battery is sent to a licensed, specialist recycler, with a documented chain of custody from removal to processing.

• Transparency. Manufacturers report recalled battery volumes and where they end up, so capacity can be built ahead of demand rather than after it.

Australia is accelerating EV uptake and home battery installations, and as those fleets grow, recalls are likely to grow with them. Owners should not be left managing a known fire risk while remediation runs its course. Consumer safety should set the timeline, not the cost of the fix.