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Two Potential Solutions to the Environmental Shortcomings of EV Batteries
Kaden Sisk
July 10, 2024
Although electric vehicle (EV) companies present themselves as sustainable, the reality is much more complicated.
It’s unsurprising that, according to this Pew Research article, seven out of 10 shoppers who would consider buying an EV say “helping the environment” is a major reason for their purchase. This statistic shows that EV companies have been excellent at marketing their products as sustainable.
This focus on sustainability is exemplified by the reports published by these companies. For instance, in a 2022 Environmental Impact Report, Tesla claimed, “Our mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” While this is a lofty goal that may convince some individuals to buy an EV—especially those who want to help the environment—the true environmental impacts of EVs are more nuanced.
Rob Reddick at Wired outlines some concerns regarding the environmental sustainability of EV batteries, and, by extension, EVs themselves. For instance, he points out that “making an average battery today can release over 100 kg of CO2 per kilowatt hour of energy provided across its lifetime.” The result is that “producing an EV often [initially] generates more emissions than building a conventional car.”
EVs are not necessarily as sustainable as some EV companies make them out to be. But it is important to note that there are proposals out there regarding how to reduce the environmental impacts of manufacturing EV batteries.
Solution #1: Making the supply chain sustainable
Fortunately, Reddick isn’t all doom and gloom with respect to the negative environmental impacts of manufacturing EVs. Later in his article, he also establishes one potential solution to this problem.
He interviews Peter Carlsson, the CEO of battery manufacturer Northvolt, who tells him about a few possibilities for reducing the ecological footprint of manufacturing EVs. Carlsson says manufacturers should be looking to “develop [their] own supply chains for critical things—like manufacturing of graphite, processing lithium into lithium hydroxide, the mining and refining of key metals—with very low-carbon or carbon-free setups.
While this may not be a groundbreaking solution to the problem, it is a solid idea. And with the right people at the helm of a company, it could be successfully executed.
Now, to reiterate the significant possible environmental benefits of this solution, current manufacturing processes release 100+ kg of CO2 per kilowatt hour of energy provided. On the flip side, Carlsson says it’s possible to “get down to around 10 kg of CO2 per kilowatt hour.” If this proved to be true, that would result in a ~90% reduction in CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour—not an insignificant amount!
To achieve this goal of drastically reducing CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour by optimizing the supply chain, there are other specific strategies beyond sourcing key metals. One option would be to look at location: areas “with an abundance of green energy” may be better suited to the manufacturing of the cathode active material that goes into making EV batteries.
Again, this a relatively executable idea with the right teams leading these EV battery manufacturers.
Another complementary effort would be for EV battery manufacturers to combine manufacturing batteries “with a high degree of recycling.”
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Solution #2: Reusing EV batteries
Establishing a framework for manufacturing EV batteries sustainably is not the only option to address this problem.
In the article “Millions of EV Batteries Could Retire to Solar Farms,” Gabriela Angueira—another writer at Wired—takes the aforementioned proposal of recycling EV batteries one step further: she argues that EV batteries could be repurposed to expand the operational capacity of solar farms.
Specifically, she points to the fact that in California, there is a “1.5-megawatt solar farm [that] uses the sun’s rays to slowly charge nearly 600” used EV batteries.” This solar farm is one place where this solution is being tested on a smaller scale.
There are many used EV batteries that could be placed on solar farms, because EV batteries “are typically replaced when they reach 70 to 80 percent of their capacity, largely because the range they provide at that point begins to dwindle.”
In that case, some used EV batteries may be suitable for storing energy at solar farms, an idea that contrasts the proposal that EV batteries should be recycled immediately after they are decommissioned. According to Angueira, “Studies show that around three-quarters of decommissioned [EV battery] packs are suitable for a second life as stationary storage.”
Reddick and Angueira outline different proposals for reducing the negative environmental consequences of manufacturing EV batteries. But it is evident that their solutions may not be mutually exclusive and could be implemented in tandem.
The ability to implement these two solutions together may present a sign of hope for the EV industry. If manufacturers can get it right, they will mitigate some of the negative environmental impacts of manufacturing EV batteries. This, in turn, would help consumers feel better about purchasing an EV.
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