Have you ever wondered what’s going to happen to all the batteries when electric vehicles stop holding their charge? – are all vehicles just crushed into a cartoon cube before being shipped off to some faraway place and never seen again? Apparently not.
This infographic from Gocompare.com details the process most cars take after you’ve handed over the keys at the scrapyard, from the end of the road to new beginnings. Particular interest is taken in greener Electric Vehicles and the very particular problems facing their end of life, and the money being invested to develop solutions. Did you know that used Nissan EV batteries still hold around 70% of their charge, and that batteries need to be frozen before they’re safe to work on?
The current processes in use recycle around 75% of a standard automobile (and the figure is higher for electric vehicles). However, there are a number of environmental downsides and health concerns with the recycling industry (typically from businesses attempting to lower costs through outsourcing). Read on below to see how the parts of electric cars that “can’t be recycled” are recycled into “Slag”, a cement strengthening additive. In effect, they can come to rest as part of the transport infrastructure they once traveled on:
