People resist change – and the drum that the naysayers most like to beat about electric vehicles is the oft-heard “Well… so what are we gonna do with all the batteries, eh”?
Well, wonder no more… The Li-Cycle corporation team has gotten serious about addressing battery end-of-life issues from both EVs and consumer electronics. The team has developed a new technology to truly enable a closed loop economy. The normal recycler creates a footprint of 2.66 tonnes of CO2 per Li-ion battery tonne processed, while recovering only 50 % of the components for reuse, and producing PFAS in the process. By contrast, Li-Cycle recovers 95% of all recyclable battery materials, produces no PFAS emissions, generates zero wastewater and only 1.75 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of recycled batteries. Overall, a 74% reduction in CO2 emission, 92% reduction in NOx emissions, 92% reduction in SOx emissions, and 97% reduction in water usage.
So… THAT’s what we’re going to do with all the batteries!
