Recent U.S. regulations are pumping billions into battery manufacturing and incentives for EV purchases. The E.U., and several U.S. states, have passed bans on gas-powered vehicles starting in 2035. This transition will require lots and lots of batteries, reports Grand View Research (June, 2023).
When a lithium-ion battery, which consists of thousands of cells filled with cobalt, nickel and manganese, comes to the end of its life, its green benefits fade. If it ends up in a landfill, its cells can set afire or leach dangerous chemicals that can contaminate water supplies and ecosystems. The thin metal exterior of a battery will decompose within 100 years, exposing the toxic heavy metals inside, which will never decompose.
But recycling these batteries can be hazardous. If they are not opened carefully, they can explode, short-circuit, and let off toxic fumes. In the coming decades, tens of millions of EV batteries will reach their end-of-life. (Some predict there will be 150 million EVs on the road by 2030. Last year there were fewer than 12 million). Current EV batteries “are really not designed to be recycled,” says one industry expert.
The E.U. and China are setting new rules for some level of battery reuse. But it will not be easy to meet the new regulations. Most recycling processes produce heavy waste and emit greenhouse gases, and very little recycling goes on today. (Recycling rates in the E.U. and the U.S. are less than 5%). Most of the batteries that do get recycled undergo a high-temperature melting-and-extraction process. Those operations, which are carried out in large commercial facilities are energy intensive. The plants are also costly to build and operate, and require sophisticated equipment to treat harmful emissions generated by the process. And despite the high costs, these plants don’t recover all valuable battery materials.
Battery-swapping is one innovative business strategy proposed in OR/MS Today (June 20, 2023). A battery swapping infrastructure station network could provide a service for EV owners to “refuel” their vehicles. Replaced batteries would subsequently be recharged and exchanged for other arriving EVs needing a battery swap. One significant challenge impeding this concept was the need for a universal battery standard that multiple automakers could share. The battery packs needed to have identical dimensions and shapes to be compatible. Tesla tried the concept in 2013, but gave up on it a few years later.
Classroom discussion questions:
- Why is battery swapping so difficult?
- Why is recycling EV batteries so complex?