Myth of EV battery 'recycling'

Fundamental laws of science being ignored by green agenda

- ANDREW ROLLINSON

MANY people will know that lithiumion (Li-ion) electric vehicle (EV) batteries can auto-ignite, in turn causing the vehicle to catch fire.

But what they don't perhaps know is the massive problem that exists around battery recycling (or lack of it).

Essentially, recycling is necessary because the metals needed to make new EV batteries are scarce, and to achieve the amount of EVs required to supplant internal combustion engine vehicles, there are simply not the resources available on earth.

Salvage facilities currently don't know what to do with EV batteries. There is a place in Belgium that smelts them down. But, generally, no-one knows how many are actually recycled, if any are recycled at all.

The problem is that EV batteries are not made to be recycled. Tesla's Model 3, for example, is said to require the whole upper body removed from its chassis to access bolts that then need a special tool unique to the manufacturer.

But, the real issue is chemical: EV batteries are complex modules with internal layers bound together with hazardous fluorinated glue. Battery chemistry is not standardised, is never disclosed for proprietary reasons, and the marketplace is fast-moving and unregulated. All this makes dismantling both dangerous and difficult.