peterb
That is the case at the moment - but as the demand for lithium rises, so will recycling facilities. Cars currently have many recycleable components, from steel used in the construction through to some plastics used in interiors. Lead acid batteries are currently recycled, there is now reason why LiIon cells shouldn't be when there is a steady supply.
EVs have only started to become mainstream in the last 5 years or so - and the LiIon cells have a projected lifespan of 8 years, the main impetus for recycling hasn't been reached yet.
It isn't current but includes projections in the next 7 years,which is the issue.
If you read the links peterb,from many people involved in the industry and analysts,the main reason any kind of recycling is down to governments,ie,why China leads the world in recycling. Also,like I said by 2025,there will be 11 million tons of batteries needing to be recycled,so that essentially only leaves 6 years for the capacity to be built up,and sadly it seems only 9% of all batteries in 2025 are to be made using recycled content.
The fact is when Nissan is moaning recycling costs are too high and Morgan Stanley saying that the costs of recycling means little progress is being made,its a joke. Even looking at the costs mentioned,its literally a few 100 dollars per car,and that is for cars which costs 10s of 1000s of Dollars. I would imagine it would be quite easy for them to even charge a bit more,if they told car buyers they were doing it to reduce environmental overheads.
ATM,China leads in recycling and only 5% of batteries are recycled in Europe. Even re-use of batteries will barely hit 60% and that still means they do need to be recycled.
The fact is this is what the car industry does - look at VW making all the noise about lower emission cars to sell more of them,and then lied,or back in the 60s were car companies sold cars which would explode to save a few bucks. They are selling EVs as a “feature” not a genuine want to be enviromentally friendly and seem to be being pushed more by governments to do anything environmentally friendly.
Hence,governments need to push more.
Governments around the world need to force car companies now to push forward recycling at an increased pace,or fine them or make them pay for full cycle cleanup costs for dumped batteries. Soon that will make them stop moaning about recycling costing more.
Plus my view,I really hope organic batteries take off,as they should avoid having to use things like Lithium,etc. The hilarious thing is oil companies seem to be investing in the new organic batteries:
https://qz.com/1287299/electric-car-batteries-that-charge-in-five-minutes-have-lured-an-unlikely-investor-big-oil/It wouldn't surprise me is since they think they can use oil products to make them. However,my main interest in organic batteries is that it opens up far more ways to get the said raw materials than dig them out of the ground.
There are also newer generations of organic wet cells being developed:
https://newatlas.com/organic-redox-flow-battery/32739/Another one using cotton:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/the-organic-carbon-battery-from-japan-that-could-spawn-the-next-tesla/362112/No Lithium,etc.
We need to stop thinking an answer to everything is digging more stuff out of the ground as it won't work longterm,if people truly want to be actually help the environment in any way. Technologies need to be developed from the start with recycling and reuse in mind.
Not,oh,this fancy tech looks cool,but we will think about the environmental effects of making them and recycling second.
Also,I don't consider myself an environmentalist,but if we are going to push technologies with the environment in mind,at least do it properly,otherwise its a half hearted effort,and then to cut one type of pollution we create another type. However,I do consider recycling which just makes sense longterm - humanity can't keep digging stuff out of the ground and throwing it away,because we will probably start hitting major issues over a few decades.
