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It seems likely that the end of life for vehicle lithium ion batteries will look roughly similar to end of life for vehicle lead acid batteries today. Namely, l

It seems likely that the end of life for vehicle lithium ion batteries will look roughly similar to end of life for vehicle lead acid batteries today. Namely, lead acid batteries are recycled at a rate of 99.3% in the US, making them the most recycled consumer good. The demand obviously doesn't exist right now because so few electric cars have reached end of life, but it seems like the transitioning the world to battery power will require a one-time investment of a bunch of materials (nickel arguably being the most important) then those same materials will just cycle around the economy for centuries. https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/battery-council-international-lead-battery-recycling/ https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/battery-council-inter...

HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
Some family members of mine work for a company that makes lead-acid batteries- and that same company also just happens to be the largest lead-recycling company in the world as well- because mining it costs more than recycling it. I look forward to the future here- it doesn't seem like an unsolvable problem for the engineers at ${battery recycler} to go from lead-acid to NiMH or LiFePo4 or LiPo or whatever it is. Awesome username, by the way.
NotSammyHagar 7y ago
tesla's plan for old car packs that lost some range is to turn them into home battery packs.
- WorldMaker 7y ago
  Originally the PowerWall was meant to be all recycled batteries, though there aren't generally enough vehicle batteries to recycle yet, so far as I know Tesla has never sold a PowerWall with recycled batteries. Nissan actually drew up a plan for a PowerWall competitor before Tesla even announced theirs, but has never produced one. Nissan has claimed to actually be waiting for the point in time where Leaf and other Nissan batteries are recyclable (and also that it has so far been pleasantly surprising how long the batteries are lasting in "first use" life).
makomk 7y ago
Seems unlikely. The reason that lead acid batteries are so recyclable is that they contain big slabs of pretty much entirely lead, which makes recovering it fairly cost effective. Lithium ion batteries contain relatively small amounts of the valuable metals that went into making them, and those are mixed with a whole bunch of lovely flammable and pyrophoric chemicals.

HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago

Some family members of mine work for a company that makes lead-acid batteries- and that same company also just happens to be the largest lead-recycling company in the world as well- because mining it costs more than recycling it. I look forward to the future here- it doesn't seem like an unsolvable problem for the engineers at ${battery recycler} to go from lead-acid to NiMH or LiFePo4 or LiPo or whatever it is. Awesome username, by the way.

NotSammyHagar 7y ago

tesla's plan for old car packs that lost some range is to turn them into home battery packs.

WorldMaker 7y ago
Originally the PowerWall was meant to be all recycled batteries, though there aren't generally enough vehicle batteries to recycle yet, so far as I know Tesla has never sold a PowerWall with recycled batteries. Nissan actually drew up a plan for a PowerWall competitor before Tesla even announced theirs, but has never produced one. Nissan has claimed to actually be waiting for the point in time where Leaf and other Nissan batteries are recyclable (and also that it has so far been pleasantly surprising how long the batteries are lasting in "first use" life).

makomk 7y ago

Seems unlikely. The reason that lead acid batteries are so recyclable is that they contain big slabs of pretty much entirely lead, which makes recovering it fairly cost effective. Lithium ion batteries contain relatively small amounts of the valuable metals that went into making them, and those are mixed with a whole bunch of lovely flammable and pyrophoric chemicals.