The Auto Industry Was Warned: Battery Recycling Was Poisoning People
Despite decades of evidence on the toxic effects of lead battery recycling, companies opted not to act and blocked efforts to clean up the industry.
Misleading headline making it sounds like all battery recycling poisons people. Half assed battery recycling is half assed.
Also sodium ion or some other lead-free formulation will likely replace lead acid 12v batteries over the next few years.
The advantage lead acid has for ICE is that it can dump a lot of current all at once. The C output rate on sodium ion isn't that high, IIRC.
There have been lithium batteries used for the purpose. The original Miata used one because standard lead acid cells caused corrosion issues in the chassis. But lithium has its own supply chain issues.
Ultimately, this goes away because ICE cars go away.
Well, there is still the temperature constraints of Lipo and LiFePo batteries (the latter being much better at cold and hot charging).
But the point is that lithium batteries operate under a pretty big compromise of needing heating and cooling when temps are too cold and too hot, respectively. That is where lead acid has a pretty significant advantage.
Edit: I had a 1991 miata, and I don't recall having a lithium battery. It was rear-mounted, though.
That's where capacitor-based jump-starters come in.
The C output rate on sodium ion isn't that high, IIRC. You can buy sodium ion in 12 volt car battery form factor today. My understanding the only limitation is charging may not work right due the voltage regulators and the different needs on charging. (Which could be overcome with adapters.). Sodium ion will likely replace the lead acid use case by the end of the decade.
The advantage lead acid has for ICE is that it can dump a lot of current all at once. The C output rate on sodium ion isn't that high, IIRC.
Add a capacitor, now it is.
Headline clearly leads "Auto industry warned" implying this is an industrial issue specific to them. And it is. This is not misleading.
The issue is that they are offshoring the lead recycling to very poor nations that have no environmental protection laws. Why? Cos cheaper.
Same issue with almost every industrial problem - the dangers are off-shored. Out of sight, out of mind. The US auto industry was warned about this exact prpblem and pleaded with to set up monitoring and a clean battery sourcing program - and of course they did nothing, because the only way corporations listen is with law and effective enforcement of those laws.
Doing things improperly with dangerous materials is unsafe. News at 11:00.
Imagine the damage recycling EV batteries will cause.
Not to be anti-EV, but more to be pro-transits/bike.
For what it’s worth, it’s not anti anything to point out flaws. If anything, it’s being pro because it opens the door for a conversation; which, if both sides come at it in good faith, can lead to change.
if both sides come at it in good faith
ahahahah, good one
I think that my ratio makes your point, lol. I neglected to note that we need to do better, instead of just leaving it open ended.
My understanding of the current process is that it’s quite wasteful/under development. With the state of things as they are it seems unlikely that the automakers are going to improve things over the recycling that they encouraged with lead acid. But one can hope, and lobby for change.
EV batteries are often still good to use as they are for other purposes. Like home power storage. Their storage amount gets low enough that they aren't giving sufficient range anymore, but they still have plenty of life left in different applications.
There's a million reasons to prefer bikes and public transit over cars in general. The reasons specific to EVs are usually bullshit.
Look man, you need to do better. You want busses to run on diesel, or really any hydrocarbon? No that's idiocy at this point. So we still need to recycle stuff. We already know how, but the misleading article makes it seem like we don't, cu they tried to half ass it.
Imagine the damage recycling EV batteries will cause.
EV batteries are mostly aluminum, some lithium , carbon as graphite, small amount of cobalt and nickel. None of these are as toxic as lead, but proper lead recycling is not toxic.
Currently my understanding of lion recycling is they grind it, dump it into a slurry, and some of the metals are recovered and the rest is a toxic soup. Mostly because the recycling is very much under development.
I think that the lesson we can draw from this is that the current system of auto recycling needs more guidelines as we move forward with EVs.
pro-transits
How pluralizing an uncountable/mass noun implies pros are transiting.
The hyphen removes that option of intended meaning.