[catlikesshrimp]

The environment be damned: Regarding price / energy density, yes. They even have weight / energy density advantage.

But Lithium batteries can't be recycled. Saying "We are almost there" and "The future looks bright about it" is "moving fast and breaking things" again

[mrob]

Recovering lithium from batteries is not cost effective compared with mining new lithium. However, battery recycling is possible and still worth doing, because it recovers more valuable metals such as cobalt or copper.

[oulipo]

And before recycling, reusing! This is why at https://gouach.com we've built the first easy-to-repair, easy-to-swap-cell battery! We're launching a Kickstarter soon, stay tuned (on our newsletter!)

[philipkglass]

"Green Li-ion Marks the Opening of its First Commercial-Scale Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Plant in Oklahoma"

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240618645137/en/Gre...

[catlikesshrimp]

I was wrong for posting what really means "technically not possible"

The real barrier for recycling waste is sustainability. This is the reason why e.g. TETRABRIK is considered recyclable, but it is actually not (I am posting about this parallel because it has been completely understood for several years)

Anything can be recycled if we are pedantic. But will it actually stop generating waste? (or will they be silently exported ignored?) Will subsidies be sustainable? (not it even asking if it can be profitable) In reality, the "recyclable" brand is for the most part greenwashing.

Now, the business ad about a venture capital bussiness you posted is nothing new. Last year there were 5 such touted recycling plants in Latin America, already. One of them is located in Costa Rica. Costa Rica doesn't have a Lithium battery waste issue. There, the electric cars are very few (and people who got them already want out), there are no electricity storage facilities. I am guessing here that they will import a ton (hundreds of tons) of waste from "Somewhere else"

I am including an article on battery recycling that is easy to read. It is only 40 pages long.

https://archive.ph/wip/XB8hw

And, for more downvotes: Lithium batteries are as recyclable as a TETRAPAK: still generating waste, most of the time all of it ends up as waste.

[bryzaguy]

I thought they could be recycled but at the moment it’s cheaper to mine. Is that not true?

[robocat]

Lead Acid batteries must get replaced every few years.

An equivalent LiIon battery would not need to be replaced so quickly.

So at some crossover point the environmental cost of X * recyclable Lead acid batteries is higher than LiIon batteries.

[catlikesshrimp]

Absolutely. Lead acid will be replaced with another chemistry. My concern is only about the environment. I developed the post some more

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40878252

[justahuman74]

They can be recycled, its just currently more expensive than the post-product

[jjoonathan]

They can absolutely be recycled, lol.