Can Electric Car Batteries be Recycled - How Does EV Battery Recycling Work?

Electric cars are rapidly becoming the go-to for many car buyers. And these environmental concerns and also gas prices will strongly motivate us to change from gas to electricity. And this electric vehicle recycling battery industry is still in its early stage since most EVs are on the road for the last five years. And for many people there is most unanswered question is Can EV batteries be recycled?

Obviously yes, and as the years pass on tons of lithium-ion batteries will be disposed of, recycled and reused. But for now, recycling lithium-ion batteries is not the biggest business venture. To know more about these electric vehicle batteries, check out this comprehensive guide. Learn more!!

What are the Types of EV Batteries and How Do They Work?

After the expansion of electric vehicles, there will be a lot of ideas for consumers to make many models with different types of materials. And as batteries are one of them, here we are going to explain what type of batteries will be suitable for EVs. Look into those batteries that are provided according to the US department of energy. 

• Lead Acid Batteries: These are the old type of batteries used for the early versions of EVs. And also these batteries are very cheap. And Charging for these batteries, results in releasing a lot of emissions in hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen. 
• Lithium Ion Batteries: As many of us know, these batteries are used for cell phones and laptops. These batteries will work with high efficiency, and good performance at high temperatures, so EV manufacturers are also preferring these batteries. And also it has a quality of low self-discharge. One more thing is many of these parts can be recycled. So most of them try to use these batteries.
• Ultracapacitors: These ultracapacitors are one of the best along with lithium-ion batteries. It gives good extra power for acceleration and hill climbing. So it can be used as secondary energy storage in EVs. 
• Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries: These batteries you can see in many hybrid EVs these days. And previously these have been used in plug-in EVs too but they have been replaced with Lithium-ion batteries. Because these are having a high cost, high self-discharge, and low performance at high temperatures. But these are safer batteries than Li-ion batteries. 

And these days there are a lot of batteries that EV companies are using but mostly these are the batteries that are used in Most EV cars.EV batteries use a pack of 2000 plus lithium-ion cells working together. So, when the car is recharging, electricity is used to make changes in the batteries. And when the car is driven, the batteries release power. 

How Long do Electric Car Batteries Last?

Many Manufacturers warranty their electric car battery packs for eight to 10 years as it varies from country to country. In miles, if we see the battery lasts for 100,000 miles to 150,000 miles. And as many EV car company manufacturers are using lithium-ion batteries they can last much longer. When the EV battery pack decreases to 75 percent of its original capacity, it is considered to be the end-of-life stage that will get after 8 years even though car batteries start to degrade when you start using them. 

If you would like to maintain the battery in good health, do not charge it more than 80 percent, and do not use it until it comes to zero percent. And finally, many studies say that many types of majority batteries will outlast the usable life of the vehicle. As EV tech is evolving, we can expect more life for batteries. 

Importance of EV Battery Recycling

As these days most EV manufacturers are using Lithium-ion batteries because of their good performance with low cost. In electric vehicles, these batteries are the most important element and also it is the most expensive component that needs a supply chain that can have human rights and environmental costs. 

Recycling and reusing these lithium-ion batteries or EV batteries play a major role to reduce the need for new lithium, cobalt, and nickel. So there will not be any impact on the environment because computing these materials may have a negative impact on the environment and local communities like soil, air, and water.

Recycling Process of EV Batteries - Strategies For Recycling Batteries

In the present situation, battery recycling is performed one pack at a time. Normally, the battery recycling process can be done by burning or dissolving the cells in a pool of acid, and then they extract the cobalt and nickel along with the lithium and graphite. And as these methods are having high risks to health, many people are researching recycling batteries using water. 

Below we will see the process of recycling or the strategies that are used to recycle EV Batteries. 

• Labeling: The main important thing that we need to recycle the batteries is labeling. Because that labeling has information about the anode, cathode, or electrolyte recycling and separation of those materials will be easy.
• Co-Location: As the batteries are highly expensive to ship. So co-locating battery recycling industries near the EV manufacturers will be the best thing. And this will help us to reduce the cost of EV vehicles and we can maintain a good environment without emissions.
• Design Standards: For many products, end-of-life considerations will affect the consumers, not the manufacturers. And incorporating design standards into the manufacturing process is difficult in the EV industry. But it helps a lot. 

FAQs on What Percentage of Electric Car Vehicles are Recycled

1. Will EV Batteries be recycled at the end of their working life?

Yes, of course, electric vehicle batteries are recycled at the end of their working life. Many of them are in researching better methods of recycling batteries so that we can use these electric cars at very less cost. So that environment will be good without any emissions and noise pollution.

2. Can you get paid to recycle batteries?

Yes, actually several battery recyclers will pay you to recycle your old batteries. And the cost of it varies from country to country. 

3. How many years do EV batteries last?

EV batteries can last for 8- 10 years based on the type of battery they use. And the battery will come to end once your EV car battery pack decreases to 75 percent of its original capacity. 

4. What percent of EV batteries get recycled?

Mostly if the batteries are used for 75% -80% of their original capacity they are removed and used for recycling too. And many manufacturers tell us even 100% used batteries can also be used for recycling. 

5. Can We reuse EV batteries before recycling them?

Yes, of course, as roughly any EV car uses 2.3% in a year. It means for 12 years we use only 75% of the battery as it is not useful for an electric car we remove them but that battery can be reused for other energy storage devices like in residences, power to robots, and many more.

Conclusion 

Better improvements in technologies and recycling of these types of EV batteries will be good for the environment without any pollution. Manufacturing EV Batteries and recycling them will make electric vehicles even more sustainable than gas-powered cars. For more interesting articles about electric vehicles, you can check out our Evcarhub.com website. Comment to us for clarification of any doubts about this article.