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Cars used to be made of steel and were very recyclable. More recently they are mostly made of plastics and alloys that are not easily recyclable. Lithium is e

Cars used to be made of steel and were very recyclable. More recently they are mostly made of plastics and alloys that are not easily recyclable. Lithium is extremely hard to recycle.

rootusrootus 4y ago
> Cars used to be made of steel and were very recyclable. More recently they are mostly made of plastics and alloys that are not easily recyclable. 50/50, actually.
- olivermarks 4y ago
  There is still some steel in the core load bearing areas of modern vehicle but they are predominantly alloys. I'd say around 60% alloys, 35% plastics and 5% steel would be an average
  - tuatoru 4y ago
    Let's all just make up numbers when we could find them with 15 seconds' effort. https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter4/transportation-sustainability-decarbonization/material-components-car/ https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter4/transportat... Ferrous metals 65%.
    - olivermarks 4y ago
      1 Ferrous metal blends with other materials are increasingly the main components of vehicles. MMC etc. Where body shops used to straighten collision damage on jigs to pull out damaged steel chassis, bodyshells etc the modern composites are very hard to repair, containing all sorts of materials including steel, alloys, plastics etc. They are also hard to recycle. 2 How old is that graphic? 3 Manners
      - tuatoru 4y ago
        "Ferrous metals" means steels of various kinds, or pure iron, which isn't used much these days. 65% is more than 5%. "Manners" in this forum means providing credible sources to back up your claims. If you have credible sources that contradict Transport Geography, supply them. 1. https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/what-is-a-ferrous-metal/ https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/what-is-a-ferrous-metal/
        olivermarks 4y ago
        The image was from a 'book' published in 2022, so probably around 4-6 years old being generous as it is the 5th edition. https://matmatch.com/resources/blog/advanced-high-strength-steel-stronger-lighter-safer-cars/ https://matmatch.com/resources/blog/advanced-high-strength-s... AHSS is essentially steel at its core but is very hard to move once damaged, unlike 16 or 18 gauge pure stamped steel in an early 70's era car for example, that was superseded by the high strength low alloys (HSLA) in the late 1970's. If you hammer and dolly the older pure steels there will be a 'memory' of the original stamping it will reconform too. The newer HSLA alloys were much less malleable It is amazing how fast this world has evolved in the last five years. High strength 'steel' has a low alloying and carbon content to retain formability and weldability, with copper, titanium, vanadium, and niobium added for strengthening purposes. These are complex alloys that replaced the earlier HSLA and are both very hard to work and also to recycle.

Cars used to be made of steel and were very recyclable. More recently they are mostly made of plastics and alloys that are not easily recyclable. Lithium is extremely hard to recycle.

rootusrootus 4y ago

> Cars used to be made of steel and were very recyclable. More recently they are mostly made of plastics and alloys that are not easily recyclable. 50/50, actually.

olivermarks 4y ago
There is still some steel in the core load bearing areas of modern vehicle but they are predominantly alloys. I'd say around 60% alloys, 35% plastics and 5% steel would be an average
- tuatoru 4y ago
  Let's all just make up numbers when we could find them with 15 seconds' effort. https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter4/transportation-sustainability-decarbonization/material-components-car/ https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter4/transportat... Ferrous metals 65%.
  - olivermarks 4y ago
    1 Ferrous metal blends with other materials are increasingly the main components of vehicles. MMC etc. Where body shops used to straighten collision damage on jigs to pull out damaged steel chassis, bodyshells etc the modern composites are very hard to repair, containing all sorts of materials including steel, alloys, plastics etc. They are also hard to recycle. 2 How old is that graphic? 3 Manners
    - tuatoru 4y ago
      "Ferrous metals" means steels of various kinds, or pure iron, which isn't used much these days. 65% is more than 5%. "Manners" in this forum means providing credible sources to back up your claims. If you have credible sources that contradict Transport Geography, supply them. 1. https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/what-is-a-ferrous-metal/ https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/what-is-a-ferrous-metal/
      - olivermarks 4y ago
        The image was from a 'book' published in 2022, so probably around 4-6 years old being generous as it is the 5th edition. https://matmatch.com/resources/blog/advanced-high-strength-steel-stronger-lighter-safer-cars/ https://matmatch.com/resources/blog/advanced-high-strength-s... AHSS is essentially steel at its core but is very hard to move once damaged, unlike 16 or 18 gauge pure stamped steel in an early 70's era car for example, that was superseded by the high strength low alloys (HSLA) in the late 1970's. If you hammer and dolly the older pure steels there will be a 'memory' of the original stamping it will reconform too. The newer HSLA alloys were much less malleable It is amazing how fast this world has evolved in the last five years. High strength 'steel' has a low alloying and carbon content to retain formability and weldability, with copper, titanium, vanadium, and niobium added for strengthening purposes. These are complex alloys that replaced the earlier HSLA and are both very hard to work and also to recycle.