Electric vehicles are considered a core solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. However, EV batteries pose a special challenge to the general sustainability of the vehicles. EV batteries are made from highly toxic materials and, at the same time, very valuable ones such as cobalt, lithium, and nickel. These metals require heavy mining and processing for production. These materials can turn out to be harmful to the environment and to human rights if their disposal is not performed properly. Many of these materials are, in fact, rare and usually geopolitically risk-related, hence correspondingly highly priced and unreliable.
Fortunately, a method has been found that can help counteract these challenges: the recycling of EV batteries. EV battery recycling could create yet another circular economy that mitigates environmental and social impacts from production to consumption and affects the cost and availability of materials used in batteries. Furthermore, recycling EV batteries will open up opportunities for innovation and growth with the prospect of an emerging market in electric vehicles.
This will involve the reclamation of materials from end-of-life batteries for use in other applications, including stationary storage alongside renewable energy or making new batteries. This would prolong the life span of materials and reduce the new mining to be undertaken. It can also avoid the leakage of toxic materials from landfills or incinerators into the soil and water through the recycling of EV batteries.
That is challenging. The recycling of those batteries from EVs will not only require new technologies and processes to have efficient separation and processing of materials from complex and heterogeneous battery designs but also very strong infrastructure and regulations concerning their collection, transport, and management throughout their life cycles.
That is why so many companies and startups are involved in the development of innovative solutions to recycle EV batteries. For example, Redwood Materials, founded by JB Straubel, former Tesla executive, developed a process for extraction from end-of-life EV batteries and consumer electronics raw materials and provide them back to customers like Ford and Tesla.
The last one Li-Cycle is focused on recycling lithium-ion batteries with their patented technology, recovering up to 95% of materials without generating waste or emissions. It partnered with several automakers, including GM and Volkswagen, for EV battery recycling.
Other firms, such as Battery Solutions, RePurpose Energy, and Relectrify, deal with the re-use, refurbishment, and repurposing of used EV batteries into other applications like grid storage or standby power. Variations of these activities involve companies like rejuvenated: those remaining capacities by putting the batteries to other uses once they are no longer fit to run a car.
Battery recycling for EVs is not just a requirement, rather an opportunity to build a more sustainable and prosperous future.