Turns out those EV batteries do not degrade as quickly as we were repeatedly told (by black PR, my guess) and there simply aren't enough to go around :-)
EDIT: I can't find the original article, but I found this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2022/08/01/electric...
Like steel, this industry will probably settle down to where most of the materials are recycled. Over half of steel in the US is recycled, and Nucor, which is a steel recycler, is the US's biggest steel producer. Much of what's not recycled is lost as rebar inside concrete.
Average costs of a new utility scale system are around $125/kWh of which $75/kWh is equipment of which $40/kWh is the LFP cells.
https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/how-cheap-is-batter...
Existing batteries used in cars usually have more expensive NMC chemistries. Their nickel and cadmium are worth about $30/kWh alone. They’re possibly worth more recycled for their constituent metals than reused for grid storage.
Evs are so heavy, wear through tires, good luck when you need to replace the battery. The resources to build it are bad for the environment.
It’s exhausting. It’s like those folks that complain about tax rates for the top brackets and they are making 60k.
Have you recently checked on how oil is produced?
And batteries from abundant materials are avaiable, lithium is just still cheap. But yes, exhausting.
You don't need to be rich to have economic literacy.
So the worn out packs almost all have bad cells as well.
Its expensive to repair them because of how much dangerous manual labor is involved.
Instead we (India) got dirt cheap throwaway batteries everywhere that came bundled with every item or toy we buy...
I think economics and incentives are in such a way that global ICE conversion to EV will happen a lot faster than technologies that can cheaply recycle them or dispose them is available..We worry about pollution of atmosphere, and I am wondering what similar thing could happen when the improperly disposed EV batteries starts piling up. At least for atmosphere, plants and trees could potentially cleanup CO2..What will clean up those dead batteries and the potentially toxics chemicals that seep out of them, if the economics and incentives are not aligned to make that happen? I don't think regulations are powerful enough to do that (at least until it is too late)...then what else?
Will the developed countries just ship their crap to places like my country and call it a day? I mean, if we buy some food from some hotel, it already come in some recycled container from china or something..and unless I am mistaken our toys are mostly made of plastic waste from china..
Would something similar happen with EV waste as well?
We're designing a cool repairable (and fireproof!) connected ebike battery at https://infinite-battery.com
If you're an e-bike geek, let's talk!
If you have just a slight imbalance it's taken care of by the BMS, as it continuously monitor and rebalances cells. That said, if you had used the battery for a while, and you need to change just one cell, you can't put a brand new one, it must be matched.
That's why we would recommend changing all cells. But the good thing is that changing all the cells in the battery will cost you perhaps $50 with our repairable battery. Compare that with $250-$500 with "classical models" where you need to buy a brand new battery
Their BMS handles this. Read their reviews a minor complaint is that it takes 24-36hr to fully rebalance all the cells.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2022/08/01/electric...
and, after they are no longer useful in EVs, they are still useful for at least another decade as grid storage.
There was (and still is) a lot of black PR around this, sponsored by the fossil fuel industry.
CO2 is much more serious
It might be. But I think the more important thing is where the value goes. If it goes to the environment, the businesses have zero incentives to address it own their own. At least until the problems becomes a lot obvious and too late until proper regulations are formed.
It would be unfair of me to speculate why but India is one of the few countries I know of that does not truly advance the population as it grows.