4 ms·
Typically when a lithium-ion battery is recycled some metal parts are extracted (the battery contains metal plates which are relatively easily separated), but t
by lucaspiller 9y ago
Typically when a lithium-ion battery is recycled some metal parts are extracted (the battery contains metal plates which are relatively easily separated), but the lithium usually is not as it’s a lot more complicated to extract. Economically it is a lot cheaper just to mine new lithium, so proper recycling facilities don’t often exist.
In the U.K. lithium-ion batteries are usually discarded in a landfill, and often treated as hazardous waste:
https://app.croneri.co.uk/feature-articles/dealing-waste-lithium-batteries-0 https://app.croneri.co.uk/feature-articles/dealing-waste-lit...
- dharma1 9y agofeels like such a waste.. would it be possible to design lithium-ion batteries in a way that's easier/cheaper to recycle?
- Robotbeat 9y agoYes. Tesla's standardization on one or two cell types allows them to build specialized machines that can efficiently and quickly disassemble and recycle the components of the cell. (EDIT: That's the idea Musk presented, at least. I do know Tesla has done some battery recycling, but I don't know if they've implemented this method at scale, yet.)
- EGreg 9y agoThat's what I was getting at. The world is running out of fresh lithium and meanwhile this used lithium is polluting landfills. Crazy!!