EV Batteries Are Coming. But Where Do They Go After?
Most people chuck their batteries into a bin, sometimes not even knowing if it’s completely discharged or not. ‘What difference does it make, I’ll just buy a new one when mine runs low.’ So what if we did the same with car batteries? Would that work?
The car industry has fallen in love with batteries. Even though we’ve been using batteries in our cars for more than a century, everybody is obsessed with shifting to this ‘new technology’. And rightfully so, as we make our shift to electric mobility, we will need a larger number of batteries to power our cars. It is estimated that by 2030, we’ll have 145 million Electric Vehicles (EV) on the road.
What are batteries?
Not to get into the science of batteries, but a simple structure consists of a cathode, an anode and an electrolyte. When connected within a car, electrons travel from the negative anode to the positive cathode, thus creating a current that powers your car. This is the basis of any battery that exists today, though of course there is a lot more complexity than just these three components.
Most gas-powered cars work on Lead-Acid batteries and are easily swapped in and out. But this is used only to provide initial power and to run your infotainment system. Electric cars on the other hand need a battery to power the entire car. And this is where Lithium comes in.
Everyone has heard of Lithium-ion batteries used in our phones, and these also form the basis of most EV batteries employed today. Along with Nickel, Cobalt and Manganese, Lithium is found in almost all the electric cars on the road. And here is where our problems begin.
Sound of Metal
These elements are all rare earth metals found in limited quantities around the world. For example, Cobalt forms only 0.003% of the earth’s crust, and that is found largely in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nickel is predominantly mined in Indonesia and Philippines. Lithium has large deposits in Chile, but the biggest miner is Australia.
With EV batteries estimated to have an average life span of 17-20 years, mining is expected to rise, along with recycling. We would need approximately a billion kilograms of lithium every year to meet our demands. And at the moment, it’s cheaper to mine for the metals than it is to recycle. So, we know how that’s going to go.
The damage caused by open ore mining such as in Australia is evident to most people, although it is said that the lithium salt-water basins used in Chile can be done safely if standards are maintained. The fact of the matter is that our demands for batteries, and for the technology that it powers, is endless.
What happens to your batteries after you’re done?
Sadly, we know the answer to this – It ends up in a land fill. Huge piles of garbage mixed together also contain our batteries, be it phone batteries, car batteries or even your AAA cells. We discard these items without realising the hazards that they pose.
Batteries can release metal oxides, phosphates, lithium salts, copper, aluminium, etc, which can pose a serious health hazard. The cobalt, nickel and manganese found in batteries can leak out, contaminate the soil, and eventually poison the ground water. They can threaten natural ecosystems and cause severe illness in those exposed. Another concern is that when batteries at these landfills are pierced, they start leaking dangerous gases and can catch fire. This can eventually lead to an explosion, and there are way too many videos on YouTube about the same. We are aware of this, but we continue on with this form of disposal.
A majority of this trash is also sent from western nations to third world countries. Here the regulations are much weaker, safety standards are non-existent, and there are ‘replaceable’ workers. They sort out the garbage, including the batteries that they find, and recycle them into raw metals ready for export back to the western countries.
India and lead-acid batteries are a good example of this. Lead batteries can be recycled almost completely, and 90% of this recycling is done by the informal sector in India. With no real safety equipment, battery cases are broken open with the acid and lead dust spilling onto the ground. This is further smelted in open furnaces that spew toxic fumes and dust, leading to lead poisoning in the neighbourhood. Lead poisoning can cause damage to the brain, kidney, liver, blood and even the reproductive system.
Unfortunately, regulations and enforcements are weak, thus creating an impending crisis. Even if some areas enforce the safety standards, this work is shifted to a poorer nation in Africa which does not enforce these regulations. Thus creating a never ending cycle of damage to the local populace.
What about recycling these batteries?
There has been a renewed interest in recycling batteries to reuse the metals. The current supply chain is to mine these metals in different parts of the world and then transport them to China for processing and refining. From China, the refined metals are packaged for manufacturing firms across the world.
This transport back and forth is a slow process with increasing costs, and also contributes to a rise in shipping pollution. The only reason why this system is still in play right now, is that it’s cheaper to mine for new metals than it is to recycle your old batteries.
But with newer recycling methods, you can recover about 95% of Cobalt, Nickel and Copper from your car batteries. Lithium and Aluminium generally gets burnt off as slag which ends up in a landfill. It is not cost effective yet to recycle lithium, but that’s changing as well.
There are three main processes for recycling - Pyrometallurgy, Hydrometallurgy or Direct recycling. Pyrometallurgy involves shredding and smelting the batteries to recover the individual metals based on their elemental nature. Hydrometallurgy is slightly more efficient, as it uses solvents to leach out valuable metals. Direct recycling employs physical processes to extract metals, thus retaining their crystal structures.
Recycling at the moment is not cost effective, creates a lot of waste, emits a ton of greenhouses gases, and uses a lot of energy to recover the metals. But companies are also realising that it is the only way forward. We have a limited amount of these metals in the earth, and it is already expected that Cobalt reserves will not be able to match demand by as soon as 2030. This will lead to an increase in commodity prices and will put a strain on car companies to remain competitive.
Thus, we’re seeing companies explore a closed-loop system for batteries. That would mean that they recover a 100% of the metals from the battery and reuse it in their new batteries. This is an ideal situation and companies like Tesla are already moving towards this goal. It has the potential to completely remove mining from the system. But ironically, it is estimated that to reach this goal, we probably need to mine even more than we’re doing right now.
The future of recycling batteries
EV batteries are also repurposed before they meet their demise at a landfill. Second hand deployment includes using it for household power, boats, commercial infrastructure, industrial purposes and even storage for renewable energy. Reusing batteries can extend the lifecycle of a battery which might not be suitable for electric cars anymore.
But even that has a shelf life, and the battery will need to be recycled. This is where regulations for recycling are so important. The European Union, USA and even China, have introduced strict recycling regulations for EV batteries that will promote a healthy percentage of recycling in those countries. Car makers are already complaining about a hit in their profits, which can be considered as a good sign, for it will accelerate the development of newer and cheaper recycling technology.
What we really need is standardisation in battery design. Some batteries today don’t even have the requisite labelling, which can be dangerous for recyclers. As every car maker has their own battery design, this creates an issue for the recycling industry to be cost effective. Even to open up certain glues that bind the battery components, you need dangerous solvents. Some are so toxic that they’ve been banned by certain countries.
So, the need of the hour is to create a battery design that follows a standard model and is also built to be recycled. We have a finite amount of these resources and our thirst is too deep to be sustainable. Cobalt for example, which is used in most batteries, is mined predominantly in the DRC. The mining industry in that country is said to have exploitative practices and severe human rights abuses, including child labour. As companies try to ‘clean’ their supply chains, a closed-loop recycling system is the ideal solution. There is also research into newer technology and more sustainable materials, but at the moment we are too dependent on the current system. So we can only try to reform what we have in front of us, and the writing on the wall is clear.