[bryanlarsen]

I'm having trouble following your argument. Are you saying it's bad that Tesla batteries are being reused instead of recycled? Or are you claiming that Tesla is taking credit for the reuse and that's bad?

Musk has stated publicly that they will recycle Tesla batteries once they become available in enough volume to make it viable. He'd be stupid not to -- they will be a cheaper source of nickel and cobalt than digging it out of the ground.

But reuse is better than recycling, so recycling should remain in the future as long as possible.

[d33lio]

Re-use != Recycling

[tuatoru]

That's right, it's better.

The old mantra "reduce, re-use, recycle" is in that order because that's the order of "greenness". Recycling should be the last resort.

[0xffff2]

Re-use of a battery is fine, but it's a stop-gap. The battery will eventually reach a state of health where it isn't useful in any application anymore, so recycling is still necessary. The "re-use" step just delays that a bit.

[bryanlarsen]

Exactly, so stop worrying about recycling. It'll happen when it's viable, and not before.

Batteries are a way too important source of valuable materials to not be recycled.