Recycling electric car batteries

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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Thanks for posting this Raboa.

It's rather premature and also exaggerates the problem. Premature since there hasn't been enough e-cars yet to set up any recycling facilities, the sudden growth in sales being only just over a year old.

Exaggerated because it omits secondary use. The most popular e-car to date has been the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla models have sold well too and are in second place internationally. The batteries in those at end of their in-car life are then used in home powerwalls where they can give many more years of service. It will be many years before they reach final end of life, by which time there will be recycling facilities for the content.

If you aren't familiar with home powerwalls, they are an installation of one or more of these car type batteries with controlling electronics that enables storing cheap current in the battery when it's available, releasing it when wanted. That cheap current can come from rooftop solar panels or the grid at low unit cost times like overnight.

To give some idea of the amounts of useful power that can be stored, my fully charged Nissan Leaf battery could power my all electric and electrically heated home for two whole winter days and nights, or five summer days and nights.
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