As electric cars gain market share and they seem to be the future of mobility, a new problem has arisen: what will happen to all dead batteries?
Paul Anderson of the University of Birmingham, who is also co-director of the Birmingham Center for Strategic Elements and Critical Materials, spoke about the market. electric cars from Europe, stating that “the level at which we develop the industry is absolutely frightening”.
By 2030, the European Union hopes to have 30 million electric cars on the roads of the Member States, and Anderson claims that it is the first time that a new product acquires such a profound expansion force in society in such a short time. .
Electric vehicles become a huge challenge when they become obsolete
Although electric vehicles can be carbon neutral throughout their lifetime, Anderson is concerned that they could start to have a negative impact on the environment once they become obsolete.
While most EV components are the same as those of conventional cars, the big difference is the battery. Specifically, the dead batteries of these vehicles could take us back to where we left off, which is to produce carbon emissions that are harmful to the environment again.
We will need to have a battery recycling industry for electric cars
“In 10-15 years, when many of the electric cars are out of order, we will need to have a recycling industry,” says Anderson.
While traditional lead-acid batteries are widely recycled, the same cannot be said of the lithium-ion versions used in electric cars.
EV batteries are larger and heavier than those in MACHINES and consist of several hundred individual lithium-ion cells, all of which require disassembly. They contain hazardous materials and can explode if not properly dismantled and handled.
“Currently, globally, it’s very difficult to get detailed figures on the percentage of lithium-ion batteries that are recycled, but the value that everyone cites is about 5%,” says Anderson. “In some parts of the world it is considerably smaller,” he said.
Recent proposals from the European Union state that electric vehicle suppliers should be responsible for ensuring that their products are not simply abandoned after they become obsolete, and that manufacturers have already begun to find solutions.
Nissan, for example, is now reusing old batteries from its Leaf cars in self-guided vehicles that deliver parts to workers in its factories. Renault also recycles all its car batteries, even though they only cost a few hundred a year.
The scientific community, through the Faraday institution, is also involved in this delicate situation, whose “ReLiB” project aims to optimize the recycling of EV batteries and make it as simple as possible.
“We envision a more efficient and cost-effective industry in the future, instead of going through some of the processes that are currently available that aren’t exactly efficient,” says Anderson, who is also a key partner in the project.
Currently, for example, much of the substance in a battery is reduced during the recycling process to what is called a black mass – a mixture of lithium, manganese, cobalt and nickel – which requires additional, energy-intensive processing. to recover the materials in a usable form.
Europe and the rest of the world must find solutions quickly so as not to nullify the overall effort to reduce the global carbon footprint.
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