Two million electric vehicles sold in 2018 worldwide, compared to just over one million in 2017. U.S. sales went up 79%, just pipping China’s 78% according to Edison Electric Institute. Electric battery transport is critical for meeting carbon emission targets, provided grids can meet the demand. Meanwhile there’s a mountain of battery waste appearing on the horizon.
Why This Mountain of Battery Waste Is a Problem
We can’t simply dump the batteries underground, as our grandparents might have been inclined to do. That’s because toxic battery chemicals will leech into the earth, where precipitation will eventually carry them to the ocean.
Moreover, much of the mountain of battery waste emerging in fifteen to twenty years’ time will contain lithium material. That’s unless a new technology takes over soon which is another question. We can’t treat lithium batteries like ‘normal waste’ either, because they are flammable and their toxic chemicals burn human skin. So what options do we have, Katie Hunt asks in CNN Business.
Aim for Zero Redundancy of Battery Materials
The mountain of battery waste is a treasure chest of value. We owe it to Earth not to waste any of this, by enforcing virtually endless recycling. In the first instance, spent electric vehicle batteries can find a second life for energy storage on solar and wind farms.
And after that they will still contain valuable chemicals obtained when mines harvested Earth’s crust. We just need more advanced technology to recover them ethically, economically and safely. Moreover, we also need to continually challenge the supply chain. We must demand EV batteries that are made for recycling according to an international standard.
Turning EV batteries from waste into value is not as glamorous as the electric super cars we all wish we owned. However, we need to invest more in this aspect of research too, if we truly want to respect our planet.
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