With the rapid development of electric vehicles, the consumption of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is increasing fast. Lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFPBs) have a large stock in the market due to their superior safety performance, long service life, low price of raw materials, environmental friendliness and mature technology. Therefore, the scrap volume of retired lithium iron phosphate batteries is also increasing, and research of its recycling methods is imminent. This article summarizes the current status of the echelon utilization of lithium batteries, including multiple methods for determining the performance of retired lithium iron phosphate batteries, applications for different residual energy, analysis of return on investment, and the recovery of metals in lithium iron phosphate batteries. Several processes were compared including physical methods such as crushing, pneumatic separation, eddy current, and cold-shocking, chemical methods such as leaching, precipitation, activation, and biological leaching methods. Related technologies for repairing and regenerating lithium iron phosphate (LFP) are introduced, in order to achieve retiring maximize the utilization of lithium iron phosphate battery resources, and provide technical reference for subsequent research on recycling retired lithium iron phosphate batteries.