Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling

Date: Jan 18, 2024

Many automakers are investing in an electric future, so you are likely to see more and more EVs on the roads of Denver and Aurora in the coming years. While EVs offer many environmental benefits, you may be concerned with the impact EV batteries will have on the environment. During the process of EV battery disposal, what happens to old electric car batteries? In the guide below, Holman Honda Centennial discusses the basics of electric car battery recycling. 

What Happens to Old Electric Car Batteries? 

What happens to old electric car batteries? When it’s time for EV battery disposal, many components of EV batteries are sent to be recycled. When an EV battery is past its prime, auto recyclers ship it to a specialized firm to take it apart. After the EV battery has been disassembled, the cells and circuits are crushed to sort out and purify the metals.

The team at Holman Honda Centennial takes care of sending hybrid batteries to be recycled as well. Most automakers have guidelines and collection programs dedicated to hybrid battery recycling. 

EV Battery Disposal – The Process of Electric Car Battery Recycling 

Despite the difference in size of EV and hybrid batteries, the process to recycle them is pretty similar. Here is a brief overview of electric car battery recycling. 

• EV battery packs are sent off to a facility that specializes in recycling and disassembling the batteries. 
• Typically, the steel, copper, or aluminum scrap metal goes into the nationwide metals-recycling stream.
• The battery cells are ground up and the stream is purified. This leads to a pure supply of materials like lithium, cobalt, manganese, aluminum, and nickel. 

EV Battery Recycling – What Does the Future Hold? 

Now that you know more about EV battery disposal, you may have questions about whether or not EV batteries can be repurposed for future use. EV batteries technically can be repurposed. This does not happen often, however, as it is not currently cost-effective. As more and more EV batteries are needed to meet demand, there are increasing opportunities to develop a more efficient repurposing process. 

Why are EV batteries different? In traditional automotive batteries, the liquid hydrocarbons can no longer provide energy when a battery reaches the end of its lifecycle. Many components of EV batteries, like Cobalt, for example, can be reused again and again. This means that depleted batteries can provide valuable battery production resources for future use. 

Make a New EV Yours Today

After learning about what happens to old electric car batteries during electric car battery recycling, have you decided that a new EV is the right choice for you? We can’t blame you! At Holman Honda Centennial, we offer an excellent selection of EV and hybrid models just waiting for a test drive. We’re just a short distance away from Parker. Contact us today for details.