Battery Recycling Breakthrough Announced
Thursday, April 18, 2019 - 08:46:05
Improving the sustainability of modern technology relies partly on making sure that the batteries which power modern gadgets can be recycled in an efficient and well-optimised way. This is becoming all the more relevant due to the advent of mass-produced electric vehicles, which rely on similar energy storage solutions to smartphones - just scaled up to cater to their greater power requirements.
The lithium-ion batteries that are used in mobiles and zero-emissions cars alike contain lots of valuable materials which are difficult to procure in their raw form, but thankfully electric automaker Tesla has confirmed that it has developed a more effective process for recycling old batteries to reclaim the precious contents.
In a new report published by the firm, it said that it has developed a system which helps to recover everything from the lithium and cobalt to the steel and alloy materials that are used to make the batteries themselves.
Recycling batteries in this way will further drive down the carbon footprint of the EV industry and also mean that there is less of a need to rely on materials mined at great cost from parts of the world where there may be ethical questions raised about their procurement.
Analysts believe that the recycling of old batteries from cars, mobile phones and other gadgets could generate $23 billion annually within the next half-decade, meaning that there is lots of money to be made in maximising the recovery rates of precious minerals and materials.
It makes sense for Tesla to get ahead of the curve in this area, since it is also now one of the world’s largest manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries. If it can get on top of its own circular economy and recycle the batteries it produces at the end of their usable life, then it will be reducing its reliance on third parties to supply materials.
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