The sale of electric vehicles (EVs) is skyrocketing in the UK. According to Statista, electric vehicle sales are climbing by around 140% year on year.
While this is great news due to the fact that EVs emit no carbon dioxide during their working lives, this trend does pose the question of how to dispose of EV batteries sustainably when they reach the end of the road.
How is Veolia going to recycle EV batteries?
By 2040, it is estimated that there will be 350,000 tonnes of end-of-life EV batteries in the UK. These are much more difficult to recycle than traditional lead-acid batteries due to their make up of hundreds of lithium-ion cells, requiring dedicated expertise to treat. At Veolia, we will provide this expertise on a mass scale at our new battery recycling facility in Minworth, West Midlands, which will have the capacity to process 20% of the UK’s end of life electric vehicle batteries by 2024. Batteries will be discharged and dismantled at the site, before the mechanical and chemical separation recycling processes are carried out, enabling the materials found within EV batteries to be reused.
What will be the environmental benefit?
Recovering lithium along with metals such as copper and aluminium from EV batteries, will cut greenhouse gas emissions from battery production by 50%. It will also drastically reduce water consumption, as it is estimated that 50,000 gallons of water are required to extract one tonne of lithium using traditional mining processes. The recovery and reuse of metals from EV batteries (along with other electrical waste) is known as 'urban mining', a phenomenon that is growing in popularity due to the crucial role it can play in the circular economy. It reduces both the amount of waste created and the amount of raw materials we need to use, both of which are critical as the demand for these metals continues to increase. Only through the continued development of new technologies will we be able to meet evolving recycling and recovery needs, and urban mining could be the answer to electric vehicles' end-of-life challenges.
-Further Reading-
Policy Highlights: December 2021
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