The Economist May 15th, 2021 pp68-70 |Science & technology| Recycling| “The metals in the car go round and round” “Old electric vehicles are a raw material of the future”
Li-Cycle Lithium Ion battery recycling plant in Rochester NY. Image from ewaste.expo.com
Read The Economist article for all detail
Summary provided by 2244
Electric Vehicle (EV) material composition is much different than traditional Internal-Combustion-Engine (IC) vehicles with about 50% less iron and steel weight. As % of total vehicle weight. EV/IC iron and steel 6.4%/68%, EV/IC battery 29%/<1%, EV/IC Electrical parts 12%/<1%, EV/IC Electric motor 5%/<1%, EV/IC Polymer <1%/9%, EV/IC Glass 6%/3%, EV/IC Tires 3%/3%, EV/IC Other materials 9%/6%.
The conversion towards producing more EVs will require substantial shifts in supply chain, manufacturing and recycling. With existing IC, 95% of materials are readily recycled with pre-existing processes benefiting from the fact that IC are nearly 70% iron and steel. As noted above, EV have a wider range of materials but manufacturers are looking to collaborate with recyclers to optimize design for efficient recycling.
“Generally...electrical waste is shredded in bulk before it is sorted and reprocessed…[creating something called black mass and then] processed to extract its valuable components.” Two processes currently used are known as pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. The latter being more energy efficient but requires “the added expense of treating waste water it generates…”
Besides automakers like Tesla, BMW and Volkswagen wanting to get involved in recycling there are a number of companies striving to build capability and market-share including Li-Cycle (Kingston, Ontario), Redwood Materials (Carson City, Nevada), Northvolt (Sweden), Hydro (Norway), American Battery Technology (Nevada), CATL/Brunp Recycling (China), Gangfeng (Jianxi, China), Tesla (Shanghai, China), Volkswagen (Salzgitter, Germany), EcoGraf (Australia) and SungEel HiTech (South Korea).
“Easing disassembly is also important...for BMW” A key BMW strategy though is a focus on making solid state batteries “in volume by the end of the decade.” “Solid state batteries...store more charge” than existing gel-based electrolytes and may “double the range of EVS”
Comments