They can be, and there are demonstration plants doing this already. With more EVs on the road it is even going to make economical sense at some point.

But those darn batteries just won't break as fast as some petrolheads predicted, they are still holding up long after 150.000 km and more.

Not to mention second life uses, like grid- and homestorage, which will drive up the time for when you really want to recycle an EV battery.