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Let's assume used car batteries can extend their lives 2x as grid storage - dubious, since the probability of cascading failure increases exponentially after so
by yholio 7y ago
Let's assume used car batteries can extend their lives 2x as grid storage - dubious, since the probability of cascading failure increases exponentially after some point.
Even then, it doesn't mean they won't get recycled close to 100%, just that you will have a rolling lithium stock twice as big. At some future point, they will still be removed from grid storage and recycled for raw materials.
- sjwright 7y agoI suspect within 20 years, the technology for automated recycling of standard lithium cells (e.g. 18650) will be quite advanced. The question is whether it will be more cost effective (or more carbon effective) than to continue using virgin materials. Lithium is abundant, after all.
- yholio 7y agoWe can't answer that question on economics, but surely one of the two will happen, either mass recycling or lithium abundance. We won't get to the point of "running out".
- sjwright 7y agoThere was supposed to be mass recycling of glass and plastic, but we're not close to running out of the raw virgin materials for that stuff. The question is going to be whether lithium batteries are going to be more like aluminium (recycling is cheaper and better for environment) or more like plastics (recycling is more expensive and more carbon intensive).