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The e-waste on those early generation electric clunkers could end up being just as big of a problem as gas cars as far as I can see. I would love to be proven w

by borkt 7y ago

The e-waste on those early generation electric clunkers could end up being just as big of a problem as gas cars as far as I can see. I would love to be proven wrong, but until they start making the heavy metals and REE containing components much more recyclable (and actually recycling them) we are doing pretty environmentally irresponsible mining and manufacturing to make these disposable vehicles.

fhood 7y ago
Do you want to back that up? Because I have yet to see actual examples provided alongside this particular argument.
dangrossman 7y ago
These cars' batteries aren't ending up in landfills, they're being recycled via reuse, which is even better than the recycling you were probably imagining. As soon as an old first-generation EV is totaled and shows up in a salvage yard, the battery modules get bought up by someone online. There's tons getting sold every day on eBay as well. People are making home storage batteries (for solar systems and the like) from them mostly, or electrifying other vehicles, or other hobby projects with them. There's also a few companies importing them to offer aftermarket battery upgrades, repairs and refurbishment for these cars in markets they're not officially sold/serviced in. The car makers also have their own recycling programs; Nissan recycles used LEAF batteries into home storage batteries called xStorage for example.
zippy 7y ago
unless someone has a plan to burn and spew the old cells into the atmosphere, causing the earth to heat up, it will never be as big a problem as gas cars. (that is the worst case, where auto makers just bury the cells in the ground. thankfully, that's not actually the case. they reuse battery packs and are scaling up techniques to recover the rare metals from them. you haven't heard much about this at scale because few packs have actually hit their end of life.)

by borkt 7y ago

fhood 7y ago

Do you want to back that up? Because I have yet to see actual examples provided alongside this particular argument.

dangrossman 7y ago

These cars' batteries aren't ending up in landfills, they're being recycled via reuse, which is even better than the recycling you were probably imagining. As soon as an old first-generation EV is totaled and shows up in a salvage yard, the battery modules get bought up by someone online. There's tons getting sold every day on eBay as well. People are making home storage batteries (for solar systems and the like) from them mostly, or electrifying other vehicles, or other hobby projects with them. There's also a few companies importing them to offer aftermarket battery upgrades, repairs and refurbishment for these cars in markets they're not officially sold/serviced in. The car makers also have their own recycling programs; Nissan recycles used LEAF batteries into home storage batteries called xStorage for example.

zippy 7y ago

unless someone has a plan to burn and spew the old cells into the atmosphere, causing the earth to heat up, it will never be as big a problem as gas cars. (that is the worst case, where auto makers just bury the cells in the ground. thankfully, that's not actually the case. they reuse battery packs and are scaling up techniques to recover the rare metals from them. you haven't heard much about this at scale because few packs have actually hit their end of life.)