Millions of electric car batteries will retire in the next decade. What happens to them?

flickr
Author
XiaoZhi Lim
Year
2021
Published in
The Guardian

The quest to prevent batteries – rich in raw materials such as cobalt, lithium and nickel – ending up as a mountain of waste.

A tsunami of electric vehicles is expected in rich countries, as car companies and governments pledge to ramp up their numbers – there are predicted be 145m on the roads by 2030. But while electric vehicles can play an important role in reducing emissions, they also contain a potential environmental timebomb: their batteries.

By one estimate, more than 12m tons of lithium-ion batteries are expected to retire between now and 2030.

Read the full article here.

Share This

Explore More On These Topics

We have built a world that is now pushing all life on Earth to its limits. The forces shaping our future on this planet are moving faster than we can comprehend, let alone take adequate action. By mapping the systems behind these forces, the MAHB cultivates the wisdom needed to respond.

About the MAHB →

You might like