What should we do with battery packs for electric vehicles when they can no longer provide power? dare?
Nowadays there is only one answer: recycle.
Although the transition to battery-electric vehicles is only just beginning, we recognize the need to recycle and reuse the precious metals and components found in lithium-ion batteries.
Given the intensity of the mining processes, it is utter waste not to reclaim these materials when an EV battery is no longer usable.
The German car manufacturer VW has already built a battery recycling plant in Salzgitter and shows the general process for recycling a battery in a current video (above).
According to the automaker, up to 95% of the materials in an EV package can be recovered. These can then be reused in future batteries, reducing waste.
According to the Electric Cars Report, traditional recycling methods can only recover around 60% of a battery material. So VW’s new process is a remarkable step forward.
VW’s Salzgitter plant can currently recycle 3,600 batteries a year. This is a good start, but studies predict that more than 7 million tons of EV batteries will have to be recycled by 2040. Note that the average EV battery weighs around 500 kg.
With over 588,000 electric vehicles approved for use on German roads, there will be a significant need for battery recycling over the next two decades. It can handle more than the VW factory on its own, unless it scales … and fast.
If the land – and indeed the world – is kept EV powerhouses from the landfill, it has to expand its Recycling of electric vehicle batteries over the next decade.
Do electric vehicles excite your electrons? Do e-bikes make your wheels spin? Are you being charged by self-driving cars?
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Published on March 11, 2021 – 14:51 UTC
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