Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Forever Chemical' Pollution

Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by BizarroLand on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:07PM (#40918371)

This is more fear mongering, a giant nothing burger. There will be huge advantages to recycling these batteries as the technologies come out, and dealing with the PFAS will be on the recycler.

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by FerretFred on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:15PM (#40918469)

Oh, so you mean it'll be shipped out to the nearest 3rd-world country for recycling, AKA burning in open pits. Someone else's problem for sure.

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by p_j_w on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @03:44PM (#40920193)

This amounts to "Don't worry, mommy and daddy will take care of it." It is not a serious argument.

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by idunnoman1222 on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:15PM (#40918483)

Did you even read the article? The contaminants are found around the battery manufacturing plant. Unrelated to the recycling that is never gonna happen anyway

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by cassianoleal on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:10PM (#40918408)

> There will be

> will be on the recycler

Given the current state of recycling in general, I doubt this is a nothing burger.

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by adrianN on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:14PM (#40918453)

Lead-acid batteries have very good recycling rates.

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by UniverseHacker on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:21PM (#40918564)

There is a large cash deposit for recycling them, not so with lithium

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by jmclnx on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:17PM (#40918517)

Yes, that is because in many places it is a law, plus recycling them is a money making industry.

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by adrianN on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:23PM (#40918598)

I predict that it will be the same for lithium in the near future.

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by EricE on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:40PM (#40918811)

Based on what? Where are the economics to back that feeling up?

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by adrianN on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:44PM (#40918849)

The first pilot plants are being built, e.g. https://electrek.co/2023/03/02/tesla-cofounders-redwood-show...

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by westurner on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:58PM (#40919000)

Redwood Materials: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwood_Materials :

> In March 2023 Redwood claimed to have recovered more than 95% of important metals (incl. lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper) from 500,000 lb (230,000 kg) of old NiMH and Li-Ion packs. [10]

That's without $10K humanoid robots sorting through electronics and removing batteries IIUC.

Recovering rare earths from electronics waste should be even more profitable now. Just look at Copenhill; how many inputs and how many outputs?

"Turning waste into gold" (2024) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/02/240229124612.h... :

> Researchers have recovered gold from electronic waste. Their highly sustainable new method is based on a protein fibril sponge, which the scientists derive from whey, a food industry byproduct. ETH Zurich researchers have recovered the precious metal from electronic waste.

"[Star-shaped] Gold nanoparticles kill cancer – but not as thought" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40819864

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Re:Electric Vehicle Batteries Surprising New Source of 'Fore... by bryanlarsen on Tuesday July 09, 2024 @01:15PM (#40918471)

Specifically, 99%.

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