Electric carmaker Tesla will recycle its battery packs in Europe by refining its innards to cobalt, nickel and other metals.
Tesla joins a long list of electric car manufacturers that are trying to figure out what to do with batteries at the end of their lives &8212' which, per automaker warranties, are guaranteed to last seven to 10 years. While electric car demand is strong, batteries remain the most expensive and unwieldy component and raise environmental safety issues.
GM and Nissan have both formed partnerships to research second-life uses for electric car batteries, exploring whether used batteries can be refitted to act as backup generators for hospitals or store renewable energy. Tesla has previously announced a partnership with SolarCity to collaborate on solar storage technologies. If more recycling mechanisms are set up, customers could recover some of the cost of their used batteries, potentially allaying fears about the technology and cost risks consumers have with electric cars.
a4‚¬AIta4‚¬a4„s a4‚¬¦ absolutely necessary for the EV market to be successful at current battery prices,a4‚¬¯ said John Gartner, analyst for Pike Research, when we talked to him last year. a4‚¬AFinding ways to lower that (battery) cost by getting some of the end-of-life value out of them would be key for the automakers going forward.a4‚¬¯
Tesla&'s comprehensive Europe plan, however, takes it one step beyond the research that others are doing. It will recycle‚ its battery packs at a factory in Belgium operated by Umicore, a materials technology company.
The company will use materials from the battery to produce an alloy that can then be further refined into cobalt, nickel and other metals, some of which can be further transformed and sold to battery manufacturers, or made into slag for concrete. The company&'s technology allows for 70 percent reduction in CO2 emissions in the recycling process.
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Companies: Tesla, Umicore
People: John Gartner
Companies: Tesla, Umicore
People: John Gartner
Iris Kuo is the VentureBeat's lead GreenBeat writer. She has reported for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, Houston Chronicle, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Dallas public radio. Iris attended the University of Texas at Dallas and lives in Houston. Follow Iris on Twitter @thestatuskuo (and yes, that's how you pronounce her last name).
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