Redwood Materials is currently recycling lithium batteries and getting a return rate above 80% on lithium and over 95% on nickel, cobalt and copper. Their processses, even at this very small scale, are less costly and less energy intensive than raw materials mining. And of course far less destructive to ecosystems.
And this is early days. These are already fantastic numbers but it is highly probable that innovation and scaling will improve them still further.
It's particularly exciting to see rare metals like cobalt so highly recyclable. As newer batteries require much less cobalt than older batteries, the need for virgin cobalt mining could be slashed or eliminated within a decade or two.
It's interesting to note that the lead acid batteries in ICE cars are among the most (possibly the most) fully recycled products. A large percentage of them make their way back to recyclers at end-of-life and when they do, they are fairly highly recyclable. New lead acid batteries are made of up to 80% recycled material.
Glass and aluminium are also extremely recyclable, but a huge amount of post-consumer glass and aluminium still ends up in landfill. Whereas the logistics, economics and supply chain of lead acid batteries makes them ideal for recycling. And I'd expect EV batteries to comfortably surpass this high bar given how difficult it would be for an EV battery to somehow make it into landfill.
And this is early days. These are already fantastic numbers but it is highly probable that innovation and scaling will improve them still further.
It's particularly exciting to see rare metals like cobalt so highly recyclable. As newer batteries require much less cobalt than older batteries, the need for virgin cobalt mining could be slashed or eliminated within a decade or two.