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+--- Thread: Study: recycled lithium batteries as good as newly mined (electric vehicles) (/thread-11142.html)
Study: recycled lithium batteries as good as newly mined (electric vehicles) - C C - Oct 18, 2021
Cathodes made with novel direct-recycling beat commercial materials
https://spectrum.ieee.org/recycled-batteries-good-as-newly-mined
INTRO: Lithium-ion batteries, with their use of riskily mined metals, tarnish the green image of EVs. Recycling to recover those valuable metals would minimize the social and environmental impact of mining, keep millions of tons of batteries from landfills, and cut the energy use and emissions created from making batteries.
But while the EV battery recycling industry is starting to take off, getting carmakers to use recycled materials remains a hard sell. "In general, people's impression is that recycled material is not as good as virgin material," says Yan Wang, a professor of mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. "Battery companies still hesitate to use recycled material in their batteries."
A new study by Wang and a team including researchers from the US Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), and battery company A123 Systems, shows that battery and carmakers needn't worry. The results, published in the journal Joule, shows that batteries with recycled cathodes can be as good as, or even better than those using new state-of-the-art materials... (MORE)