The drive to recycle lithium-ion batteries
Electric vehicles are surging in popularity but Patrick Hughes asks what happens once their batteries are no longer fit for purpose
With the electric vehicle (EV) industry poised to grow exponentially, so too is the waste from the lithium-ion batteries that power these vehicles. From the EVs sold globally in 2017 alone, the waste from the spent lithium-ion batteries could be about 250,000 tonnes, or a half a million cubic metres. With the average battery only guaranteed to last eight years, some of those 2017 batteries could need to be replaced and disposed of by 2025. As more batteries are manufactured to keep up with the increasing demand for EVs, the recovery of the critical materials in these batteries will be vital to create a circular, sustainable industry and to manage waste. But currently, no recycling method exists which is both efficient and profitable enough to be sustainable. What is to be done with the next generation of end of life batteries?