Non-renewable Lithium...Fact.
Since EV’s are on the rise (no magic - thanks only to the invention of the high density Lithium battery), and knowing that Lithium is a limited non-renewable resource, besides wishful thinking, I wond...
Forum Discussion
Reisender wrote:
Nope. Used EV batteries are already in high demand. Expected real world lifespan of the cells is 30 years. Never make assumptions on todays technology. In three years it will be a different game.
PS. I'm one of those who trade in their vehicle every 5 or 6 years. (I like tech) Whoever gets my EV next spring will have an amazing problem free EV with probably at least another decade of life...if not more. We have a bunch of neighbours who have already called dibs.
In cars, the useful life of LiFePO4 batteries is about 10 years. After that they still have lots of life, but capacity and maximum rate of discharge decrease to the point where they're no longer effective in a car. So the person getting your car has 5 years, not 10, before they'll need to do something (unless either they or you don't drive much). At that point they're good as backup storage for solar/wind on the grid, where capacity vs. weight and volume isn't as much of an issue and discharge can be spread out over many banks, where they can be used for another 15-20 years.
After that (25 to 30 years old), most will be spent and they need to be disposed of somehow. Hopefully by then there's a cost-effective way to recover the metals from them for re-use. Right now there are ways but they're not cost effective.
