What? An article about the environmental costs of electric vehicles in Adventure Journal? What’s going on here? Well, overland travel and road tripping are big parts of the adventure world. Some of our most-viewed articles of the past few years are about the, presumed, coming of electric trucks and SUVs as adventure platforms. See this piece, or this one, or how about this one right here? But electric vehicles come with their own host of environmental concerns that combustion engine-powered ones don’t. This piece sheds some light on that. – Ed.
In September, Tesla announced that it would be phasing out the use of cobalt in its batteries, in an effort to produce a $25,000 electric vehicle within three years. If successful, this bold move will be an industry game changer, making electric vehicles competitive with conventional counterparts. But the announcement also underscores one of the fundamental challenges that will complicate the transition to electric vehicles. Without cobalt, there may be little financial incentive to recycle the massive batteries used to power the cars — and that could lead to an environmental disaster.
The switch to electric vehicles has been promoted as a major, necessary step to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to stave off the worst effects of a changing climate. The switch would also significantly reduce health risks associated with vehicle emissions. Every major auto manufacturer now has at least one electric vehicle in production, and some — including Daimler, Volkswagen, and General Motors — have pledged to phase out the production of gas and diesel engines entirely. More than a dozen countries, including many in Europe, have said they plan to ban sales of gasoline and diesel cars by 2040 or sooner. California also just announced a plan to phase out gas and diesel cars by 2035.
But electric cars have their own dirty little secret: Every electric vehicle, and most hybrid vehicles, rely on large lithium-ion batteries weighing hundreds of pounds. One of the largest, the battery for the Mercedes-Benz EQC, comes in at 1,400 pounds. Typically made with cobalt, nickel, and manganese, among other components, these batteries cost thousands of dollars and come with an environmental burden: They require ingredients sourced from polluting mines and smelters around the world, and they can ultimately contaminate soil and water supplies if improperly disposed.
In the rush to embrace this technology, auto companies are adopting the same pretense that has been embraced by the plastics industry: They are claiming that used batteries will be recycled. However, the truth is being swept under the rug. None of the lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles are recyclable in the same sense that paper, glass, and lead car batteries are. Although efforts to improve recycling methods are underway, generally only around half the materials in these batteries are currently extracted and repurposed. And without the most valuable ingredients, there will be little economic incentive to invest in recycling technologies. The result, if nothing is done to tip the scales, could be a massive health and environmental crisis.
Despite ongoing research into recycling technology, this situation is unlikely to resolve itself. Lithium-ion battery makers have yet to develop the technology that can economically extract components in a form that can be used to make new lithium-ion batteries. Rather, the batteries are typically processed to remove the cobalt and a few other expensive metals, with much of the remainder released as air emissions or used as filler in concrete or other construction products. This is one reason why less than 5 percent of lithium-ion batteries are currently recycled.
Complicating matters further, different battery makers use different ingredients, cells, and modules, which makes the extraction process less efficient and more expensive. In fact, manufacturers are not even required to disclose the contents of their batteries to would-be recyclers.
To account for the inevitable growth in this waste stream, manufacturers and electric vehicle advocates are touting the potential for these batteries to be reused after their useful life in vehicles has been realized. Some companies have launched efforts to repurpose these high voltage, flammable electric vehicle batteries for solar energy storage and other backup power applications by rebuilding batteries using a combination of reused and new parts. But even if these efforts succeed in developing technologies to safely and economically remove, transport, dismantle, and remanufacture batteries, this would simply delay a battery’s ultimate fate by a few years.
The business case for recycling will become even more tenuous as Tesla and other car manufacturers take steps to lower costs by eliminating the most expensive metal components from their battery designs. Even if auto companies succeed only at reducing the concentration of these components, financial incentives will be needed to ensure that these batteries are collected and recycled. These subsidies will need to make up for the difference between the cost of transporting and processing spent batteries and the value of the extracted materials.
Without these incentives, lithium-ion batteries will be dumped, incinerated, or exported to countries with weaker standards, where they will contaminate the environment and threaten public health. Nickel has been shown to cause lung and nasal cancers, reduce lung function, and cause bronchitis. Cobalt can cause serious health conditions such as asthma and pneumonia, and it is a possible carcinogen. Exposure to manganese can result in respiratory problems, loss of coordination, and other neurological problems.
We have already started shifting the burden of lithium-ion battery disposal to low- and middle-income countries, many of which lack stringent environmental safeguards and the facilities to recycle or otherwise process used batteries in an environmentally sound way. Some have even put in place incentives, including tax waivers, to encourage used electric and hybrid vehicle imports. A recent United Nations report found that hundreds of thousands of electric and hybrid vehicles are being exported annually from Japan, the E.U. and the U.S. to countries like Sri Lanka and Mauritius.
To avoid the acceleration of these trends, regulations will be needed as we shift to an electric vehicle future. Whereas China and the E.U. require electric vehicle manufacturers to take back spent batteries from consumers, no similar regulation or legislation has been adopted in the U.S. The track record in the U.S. for recycling e-waste does not offer much relief. Only three states have extended producer responsibility laws mandating that manufacturers take back lithium-ion batteries used in electronics, and none include vehicles. There are no clear prohibitions against exporting used lithium-ion batteries or selling used vehicles with degraded batteries to low-income countries at fire-sale prices.
But these are still early days, and there is still time to implement legislative solutions that can help avert an impending waste crisis. To that end, the California Environmental Protection Agency has formed a multi-stakeholder committee, of which I am a member, that will advise the state legislature on crafting practical solutions.
Today, most electric vehicles retail at the luxury end of the market, with sticker prices up to $150,000. The federal government subsidizes these sales — as do some state governments — to help electric cars compete with conventional vehicles. But as battery prices and production costs fall, such subsides will no longer be needed. In anticipation of the expected increase in sales, we must start now to plan for a future when individual lithium-ion battery consumption transitions from the one-ounce battery in your cell phone to the behemoth in your garage.
Perry Gottesfeld is the executive director of Occupational Knowledge International and a member of the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Lithium-ion Car Battery Recycling Advisory Group.
This article was originally published on Undark. Read the original article.
You mean to tell me it is not switching from ICE to EV that will save us but actually making us default to other, less impactful, means of transportation? Get out of here.
Why is this even printed on Adventure Journal? Are we supposed to connect the dots that an EV SUV is somehow outdoorsy and tied to adventure? Also, it’s pretty simplistic to assume that this one aspect of not recycling will lead to “environmental disaster.” Not recycling period, and the demise of recycling that has been happening for years is a huge problem, this only contributes to it. This article doesn’t even weigh in the benefits that EVs do bring, even with this one very large problem. EVs, especially as fleet vehicles, can help reduce emissions that lead to global warming which probably is our biggest environmental disaster at this point as it contributes directly to rising sea levels, hurricanes, droughts and wildfire, flood, loss of entire countries and shorelines. Come on……
We frequently cover EVs as part of our Overlandia column, it’s a big draw for many of our readers. Many people who enjoy off-roading for the sake of off-roading, or simply seek out areas off the beaten path, will be increasingly turning to EVs, like the Rivian, which we’ve covered extensively. Perhaps readers unfamiliar with our overlanding content could use a primer, so I’ll add one.
You leave me wondering if you ever published an article about the need to recycle gasoline and diesel engines. I see an awful lot of them sitting in junkyards. When are we going to solve that problem? Oh wait…
@Thom Moore
Yawn….’whatabout’ arguments are generally tired and incomplete, similar to what you have just offered here.
Since it seems you dont know how they work, lets talk about automotive junk yards, not just scrap dumps, but places that deal solely in cars.
Junk yards are generally in the business of selling used cars parts. The cars themselves are often the storage for the parts. Sometimes a ‘good’ but wrecked car will remain in situ for a number of years waiting for folks to come by to purchase a starter motor, gear box, fuel pump or passenger door. Once it has nothing left to offer, it will be crushed and sold as scrap to be melted down and recycled.
Sometimes you have larger vehicles, old delivery vans etc. that act as little warehouses, holding for example hundreds of alternators for GM vehicles, I saw a small bus once filled with mirrors of every make and model.
Things I have gotten from junk yards over the years: section of rigid fuel line for Toyota truck, wing window for VW Rabbit, Windshield for a ford escort, Chevy Transmission, VW engine block, etc….
This system of actually using / selling the functional parts is immensely greener than immediately crushing and melting wrecked cars simply to say that its first use is finished, now it must be recycled. Yes this take time, but its actually the better way to go about a careful use of resources.
Your argument about simply ‘seeing junk yards’ proving that they dont recycle does not hold up. Lets focus on EVs for a second with out whatabouting in every direction just to be abrasive.
cheers.
The fact that they are sitting in “junkyards” means they are being recycled. #HeadUpAss
AJ –
Thanks for publishing this article. It is refreshing to read an article that doesn’t talk about how EV’s will save the environment. I say this as an EV driver, and career renewable energy professional. I am a firm believer that we need to transition to a more electric future, powered by solar energy and storage. This doesn’t mean the new tech is clean of all environmental impact. Bringing awareness to opportunities for improvement is critical to progress!!!
I applaud OAJ for telling at least part of the entire story about electric vehicles. There is no free lunch when it comes to energy. Before you start worrying about recycling the surplus of dead batteries, you best consider where the minerals needed to make these exotic batteries will come from in the first place. Few, if any of the most promising minerals (mostly rare earth minerals) for high storage batteries, are found in the US. If there is a sudden demand (think a gold rush type event), uncontrolled mines will spring up all over, most in places with limited environmental protection laws and enforcement. Then one has to consider the manufacturing processes to make the batteries and facilities it will require. You might believe the refineries will simply move their personnel and refurbish facilities to make batteries. Voila! No loss of jobs, existing facilities put to good use. But that won’t happen either if the raw materials aren’t economically transported to the manufacturing site. While it might make you feel good to stop using fossil fuels, switching to an electric vehicle might be causing just as much if not more unrecoverable environmental damage. Similar concerns exist for wind and solar power processes. It is foolish and irresponsible for anyone to jump onto the renewable power band wagon without taking a realistic look at the entire picture, cradle to grave.
Go back to horses and walking.
I’m all for EVs and lowering fossil fuel emissions. But recycling programs are massively lacking in the US and many other countries. It’s a money problem and a policy problem. As Perry points out, companies will only recycle their products/components if it makes financial sense (right now, it doesn’t). They won’t recycle unless they are penalized and/or incentivized to do so. Society needs to make reduce/reuse/recycle a priority because corporations never will. We also need to incentivize alternative modes of transportation. Over-reliance on automobiles for transportation is a big problem and EVs aren’t a solution. I personally think you should get a tax break for not owning a car. Air travel is another big problem. To mitigate the climate crisis, we must commit to creating less-polluting vehicles and aircraft, expanded public transportation, better recycling programs, cleaner waste disposal, more renewable energy, more bike-friendly infrastructure… the list goes on. The only way this happens is with civic engagement (from voters), strong leadership, and effective environmental policy.
So much to digest here, and my mind is all over the place today.
Recycling of ICE cars, this is a good point. So listening to a podcast recently about recycling, it was talking about how plastic is not actually recycled much, and there’s quite tight requirements on what can and will be recycled. But for metal, it was basically “any metal” should go in the bin. So why are there so many millions of tons of steel in cars and engines sitting around the US in backyards and junkyards, plus we have 12 million extra unemployed people.
I would love to see a national push to recycle the metal from junkyard cars that have had the useful/wanted parts taken out.
As for battery recycling, some of the tried and true battery technology cars, are saying the batteries are good for 200,000-250,000 miles. Sure, you’ll be at 75% life at 200,000 miles, but when that still gives you a 200 mile range, I can totally live with that.
I’ve read accounts of Tesla Model X drivers getting 500,000miles out of their battery with only a 10% reduction in overall charge capacity. If this is generally true, a battery could potentially be reused a few times.
Used Tesla Model S’s can be had (very quick search on craigslist) for $30-35k with low 100,000 miles on them (2014 P85, one owner, clean title, with 115k for $33k today). If they’ll last even 400,000 miles, then that is a bargain. I’m sure buying privately would get them even cheaper.
And soon well have the masses of Model 3’s coming in used. A 150,000 mile old Model 3 is probably in my future.
Nick, you need to read something other than EV blogs and publications pushing EVs. Tesla drivers routinely lose up to 25% or more at about 100k miles. Source, my wife owns one. Sure some might get what you claim, but at 500k most Teslas need a new, very expensive battery, which completely negates all the “low maintenance” tripe. Ask yourself how many people who buy luxury cars actually drive 500k miles as well. There is a company that has been reported on that puts these type of miles on their Tesla fleet but they had “little” issues, like having a whole motor replaced at low miles, bad batteries etc. Covered by warranty but who want to warranty a motor at 80k on a 70k vehicle?
Thank you for presenting some of the other side of EVs. As we rush headlong into these technologies we sometimes ignore the downside. These vehicle batteries will be shipped to third world countries just like our used computer components where they will be scavenged for the minor useful materials and then dumped in poor communities causing hazardous waste impacts for decades. Not to mention the fact that EVs must be recharged using electricity currently generated by fossil fuels for efficiency. Elon Musk has stated that in an EV society we can not possibly generate enough electricity using renewable sources as the exist today. The graceful wind farm will become the visual scourge of the future.