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What is the lifetime of the batteries, how finite are the materials used to make them, and how environmentally friendly is the process to recycle them?
by Thorentis 5y ago
What is the lifetime of the batteries, how finite are the materials used to make them, and how environmentally friendly is the process to recycle them?
- 2000UltraDeluxe 5y agoThe same question should be asked for the solar panels and the other components required, but at this moment, the question is simpler: Can the materials for producing the required quantity be sourced from the current global market, and can they be expected to remain available for production of spare parts for the expected lifetime of the new systems?
- manholio 5y agoThe answers to these questions are mostly irrelevant since we are only seeing very early prototypes of what the storage industry will use 20 years from now. The objective now is to demonstrate grid scale battery storage is an economically sound proposition, to create an industrial field. With sufficient scale, satisfactory answers to these questions will be found. We know answers exist, for example sodium ion batteries use resources that are essentially unlimited - salt and carbon. It's just that their lower mass capacity, irrelevant in a grid scale battery, meant that they are not interesting for mobility applications, where all the research went until now.
- mattmanser 5y agoThe plant they're talking about near us in the UK says a 35 year operating lifetime. No idea if they'd have to replace the batteries in that lifetime though.