News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Gigafactories are recycling old EV batteries into new ones by Tuna-Fish on Sunday October 30, 2022 @08:39AM (#33393954)
That's not what the infograph tells you. It says that 50% of the battery cost comes from cathode materials, which is true for some chemistries, but even in those cases that's not because of lithium, but because of cobalt.

Which is precisely why the industry is moving to chemistries that don't use cobalt, pushing the materials price back down.

Re:Gigafactories are recycling old EV batteries into new ones by scythe on Sunday October 30, 2022 @10:45AM (#33394905)
Also, lithium isn't the cathode, it's the anode. The cathode is primarily nickel (III) oxide, which is unstable and so stabilized with cobalt, aluminum and/or manganese.
Re:Gigafactories are recycling old EV batteries into new ones by leplen on Sunday October 30, 2022 @05:57PM (#33399236)
Technically most Li ion batteries are created in the discharged state, with the lithium in the battery provided by the cathode at the time of construction, and then moved over to the LiC6 anode via charging.