Can millions of lithium ion batteries be recycled?

When an Electric Car Dies, What Happens to the Battery?

Obama’s administration wants one-million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on the road by 2015 and car manufacturers are racing to meet this governmental and environmental challenge.   While pushing for alternative-fueled vehicles is long overdue, the other part of this challenge is what ultimately happens to the one-million lithium ion batteries?  While electric vehicles can effectively reduce our collective carbon footprint on the world, this reduction loses its meaning if batteries end up in a landfill somewhere.

To address this challenge, the Department of Energy recently awarded $9.5 million in grant money to a California-based recycling company, Toxco, Inc.

Toxco, Inc., currently the only U.S.-based company able to recycle all sizes and models of lithium-ion batteries will use this grant to expand its recycling facility in Lancaster, Ohio, to process vehicle-grade batteries.

The facility currently processes large-format lead-acid batteries, as well as nickel-metal hydride batteries used in the current population of hybrid and electric vehicles.

The government grant is part of $2.4 billion in stimulus funds awarded to jump-start the manufacturing and implementation of a domestic crop of vehicle batteries, part of Obama's pledge to transition the country away from a dependency on foreign oil and foreign-made batteries.

"As the U.S. hybrid vehicle market continues to grow, Toxco will provide end-of-life management and recycling of these advanced batteries in a safe and environmentally sound manner," said Todd Coy, executive vice president of Kinsbursky Brother, Inc., Toxco's parent company.

This means batteries that power alternatively fueled vehicles such as Nissan Motor Company's “Leaf” will likely find their way to Toxco's plant in Lancaster, where they will be transformed into scrap commodities like cobalt, copper, nickel and lithium carbonate.

Toxco's Canadian recycling facility in Trail, British Columbia, already recycles lithium-ion batteries from devices such as laptop computers, industrial plants and Tesla Motors Inc.'s all-electric Roadster vehicle. The batteries are frozen to -325 degrees Fahrenheit to defuse the lithium before being sheared, shredded and separated into their constituent parts for resale.

Knowing that the batteries which power alternatively-fueled vehicles can be properly disposed of without further impact to the environment effectively mitigates such buyer concerns and will most likely prompt increased sales of these vehicles.

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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=lithium-ion-batteries-hybrid-electric-vehicle-recycling