The media have been ecstatic for some time about electric cars. The industry presents them as a miraculous cure for the polluted atmosphere. Today we ask a fundamental question about electric car costs. Where will the raw materials come from for the batteries?
A Shaky Supply Chain is Inflating Electric Car Costs
Raw materials for batteries come largely from developing countries. These have unstable political futures and they are not part of the western economy either. Therefore we have no firm guarantee of continuity of supply.
Moreover, it is becoming clear their raw materials are limited. What will happen to electric car costs when there is a stampede to secure these? This is the toxic paradox we face regarding future electric car costs. Moreover we need to think beyond our own narrow interest. We will never drive the wave of global warming back unless the poorer nations can afford the cost of recycled batteries.
We Must Carefully Curate What We Have
Elizabeth Behrmann, Andrew Noel and David Stringer posted an article in Business Day on August 30, 2019 that grasped our attention. “At some point it won’t make sense anymore to dig for raw materials, because enough batteries are available,” they say.
However the recycling cost may be more than the value of the recovered materials. This would drive a wedge between conventional vehicle economics and electric car costs. The battery industry has a duty to promote alternative battery constituents, and pour more money into recycling technology. We have a moral obligation to do more than harvest a lithium-ion bonanza.
Behrmann, Noel and Stringer say recycling in the U.S. and Europe is a matter of getting rid of the problem. “In China and South Korea they look at it from the other direction,” they say. “They tend to ask themselves how to supply production with battery materials, and recycling is one way to do that.”
Related
China Electric Car Makers to Recycle Old Batteries
Big Push to Recycle Lithium Batteries
Preview Image: Battery Recycling
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