As car companies and governments commit to boosting manufacturing, electric vehicles are predicted to flood the roadways of developed countries. By 2030, there are expected to be 145 million cars on the road. While electric vehicles can help reduce pollution, their batteries, known as EV batteries contain a potential environmental time bomb. While electric vehicles (EVs) do not emit CO2 throughout their working lives, the concern is what happens when they run out of gas, mainly batteries.
When huge numbers of people reach the end of their lives in 10 to 15 years, it will be critical to establishing a recycling sector. While most EV components are similar to conventional cars, the battery is the most significant change. While old lead-acid batteries are frequently recycled, lithium-ion EV batteries are not. As a result, as they reach the end of their useful lives, they also pose the risk of creating a mountain of electronic trash.
Experts say now is the time to plan for batteries at the end of their lives to lessen dependence on mining and maintain materials in circulation as the automobile industry transforms.
EV batteries: boon or disaster in making
EV batteries are bigger and heavier than traditional car batteries, and they are built up of hundreds of individual lithium-ion cells that must all be dismantled. They contain toxic components and, if disassembled incorrectly, have a nasty habit of exploding. According to recent suggestions from the European Union, EV suppliers would be responsible for ensuring that their goods are not simply destroyed at the end of their useful lives, and manufacturers are already taking steps to meet this challenge.
For instance, the battery powering the Mercedes-Benz EQC is one of the largest, weighing 1,400 pounds. TThese batteries, which are often composed of cobalt, nickel, and manganese, among other minerals, can cost thousands of dollars and have a negative impact on the environment: they require ingredients sourced from polluting mines and smelters all over the world, and if improperly disposed of, they can contaminate soil and water supplies.
In their drive to embrace new technology, automakers use the same ploy that the plastics industry has employed: they say that spent batteries would be recycled. The truth, on the other hand, is being brushed under the rug. In the same way as paper, glass, and lead car batteries are recyclable, none of the lithium-ion EV batteries is. Although ongoing efforts to enhance recycling technologies, only around half of the materials in these EV batteries are now removed and reused. There will be no economic motivation to invest in recycling technologies if the most valuable elements are unavailable. If nothing is done to change the balance, a huge health and environmental calamity might emerge.
This scenario is unlikely to improve on its own, despite continued research into recycling technology. Manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries have yet to develop technology that allows them to remove components cost-effectively that can be used to create new lithium-ion batteries. Instead, the batteries are usually treated to remove the cobalt and a few other valuable metals. The rest is discharged into the atmosphere or utilised as filler in concrete or other construction materials. This is why only about 5% of lithium-ion batteries are recycled nowadays. Different battery manufacturers utilise different materials, cells, and modules to make matters even more complicated, making the extraction process less efficient and costly. Manufacturers aren’t even required to tell potential recyclers about the contents of their batteries.
Stepping up the recycling process
To account for the predicted growth in this waste stream, manufacturers and electric car enthusiasts emphasise the prospect of these EV batteries being reused after their useful life in vehicles has expired. Some businesses have begun to repurpose these flammable, high-voltage EV batteries for solar energy storage and other backup power applications by rebuilding batteries with a mix of used and new materials. However, even if these efforts succeed in creating technology to extract, transport, deconstruct and remanufacture batteries safely and cost-effectively, this will only postpone a battery’s final fate by a few years.
The commercial case for recycling will become even shakier as Tesla and other automakers reduce costs by omitting the most expensive metal components from battery designs. Even if automakers can merely reduce the concentration of these components in their vehicles, financial incentives will be required to ensure that these batteries are collected and recycled. The gap between the cost of shipping and processing waste batteries and the value of the extracted materials will have to be covered by these subsidies.
Without these benefits, lithium-ion batteries will be dumped, burnt, or shipped to nations with lower regulations, polluting the environment and endangering public health. Nickel has been linked to lung and nasal malignancies, as well as reduced lung function and bronchitis. Cobalt is a probable carcinogen and can cause significant health problems like asthma and pneumonia. Manganese poisoning can cause breathing issues, lack of coordination, and other neurological issues.
We’ve already begun moving the burden of lithium-ion battery disposal to low- and middle-income countries, many of which lack strict environmental regulations and facilities for recycling or otherwise processing used batteries in an environmentally friendly manner. Some states have even implemented incentives, such as tax exemptions, to encourage the importation of second hand electric and hybrid vehicles. For example, according to a recent United Nations report, Japan, the EU, and the United States export hundreds of thousands of electric and hybrid vehicles to Sri Lanka and Mauritius each year.
The road ahead
As we transition to an electric car future, laws will be required to prevent these tendencies from accelerating. While China and the EU mandate electric vehicle manufacturers to collect spent batteries from customers, the United States has yet to enact such legislation. In the United States, the track record for recycling e-waste is not encouraging.
Only three states have passed rules requiring manufacturers to take back lithium-ion batteries used in devices, and none of them involves vehicles. Moreover, there are no explicit prohibitions against exporting used lithium-ion batteries to low-income nations or selling secondhand automobiles with damaged batteries at fire-sale prices.
However, there is still a long way to go and there is time to enact legislation that will help avert a waste problem. Most electric vehicles are now sold at the premium end of the market. The federal government and some state governments subsidise these sales to assist electric cars to compete with conventional vehicles.
However, when battery prices and manufacturing costs decline, such subsidies will become obsolete. In anticipation of the expected spike in sales, we must start planning now for a future when individual lithium-ion battery use advances from only one battery in your cell phone to the monster in your garage.