Electric Cars Go. What about used batteries?

Hans Eric Melin, founder of Circular Energy Storage, a consultant that focuses on battery life cycle management, agrees. Time will tell. As more batteries die, economies of scale will reduce costs. Melin says another key is to position battery manufacturers and recycled batteries closer together. He noted that the most developed battery recycling industry is in China, where 70 percent of lithium-ion batteries are made. In North America and Europe, there is less manufacturing and less recycling. But some automakers have done it set at home recycling programs to recover the materials themselves, recyclers are also thinking about making batteries. In September, Redwood Materials said it would begin building battery cathodes from recovered metals.

However, others say that some batteries will be “discharged” from these systems and will not be recycled immediately. Some electric cars will end up abroad, as 40 percent of gas-powered vehicles currently do. It’s a common fate because cars that are considered unsuitable for U.S. roads can still be shipped overseas and sold at a great discount. Melin says a small number of old EVs are already moving abroad. In his research, he found it easier to explore older fully electric models Nissan Leaf In Ukraine, the company did not sell them until this summer.

Sending used cars abroad is an important way to make electric vehicles available to the poorest countries, Melin noted. But it questions whether these places are ready for safe recycling and a proper environment when vehicles die. “We have evidence from the e-waste trade that there may be bad versions of recycling,” says Kendall, noting places in India and Southeast Asia. “It’s a misery.”

Closer to home, they can “spill” batteries from other electric vehicles into dark corners of the home car industry with players who have no money or desire to deal with the waste. One result is the accumulation of batteries, in the hope that recycling costs will eventually go down or the value of the batteries will go up. “Some of them are desires,” Kendall says. Sometimes the batteries run out of energy but not always in terms of security DIY. This can be useful, as DIY is likely to extract more electrons from used batteries for new applications, such as home energy storage. But some battery packs are divided into individual cells or modules for reuse, which means they are likely to disappear.

The government is also likely to be involved, as it has done with the lead-acid battery deposit system. Last year, the European Union proposed regulations which should manage batteries and batteries recycled by car manufacturers, regardless of who they are at the end of their lives. “The disassembler can turn around and say, ‘I don’t want this thing in my yard.’ Take it to Honda or Tesla or Toyota, ”said Latham of Salvage Wire. New EU standards would also decide how much recycled metal should be recycled from precious metals inside new batteries from the past, rather than virgin material.

Regulation of the battery industry it requires careful balance, explained Melin. Strict rules aimed at maximizing the greenness of EVs can slow the adoption of electric cars and cause them to burn more fossil fuels, which is a much worse fate for the planet. Of particular concern to automakers is the high-threshold requirement for recycled materials to be incorporated into new batteries; achieving this can be difficult, especially in the short term, and can increase battery costs.