Electric-drive vehicles are relatively new to the U.S. auto market, so only a few have approached the end of their useful lives. As electric-drive cars become increasingly common, the battery-recycling market may expand.
Widespread battery recycling would keep hazardous materials from entering the waste stream at the end of a battery’s useful life and during its production. The material recovery from recycling would also reintroduce critical materials back into the supply chain and increase the domestic sources for such materials.
Work is now underway to develop battery-recycling processes that minimize the life-cycle impacts of using lithium-ion and other kinds of batteries in vehicles. But not all recycling processes are the same and require different separation methods for material recovery.
Narrower Concepts:
- Direct recovery
- Intermediate processes
- Smelting