The Challenges of Electric Cars
Electric cars have often been hailed as the ultimate solution for sustainable mobility.
But is it really so? As of today, their journey is far from obstacle-free.
Issues related to battery recycling and industrial failures raise questions about their real environmental impact.
Let’s explore images and testimonies of these failures to understand if the electric car is truly the answer we were all looking for.
Battery Disposal
This is the main issue that disrupts the idyll of electric cars.
Battery disposal is indeed one of the most discussed topics in the transition to electric mobility.
By 2030, it is estimated that around thirty million electric cars will be on European roads.
This will lead to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions, but at what cost?
Introducing a new problem: the safe and sustainable disposal of batteries.
Unlike the lead-acid batteries of traditional cars (easily recyclable), lithium batteries of electric cars are composed of hazardous and precious materials such as cobalt, manganese, and nickel.
These materials require complex processes for recycling.
Moreover, most of the batteries are currently sent to Germany for treatment, but existing solutions have not yet been able to recover all materials economically and effectively.
Incomplete Recycling in Italy and Europe
Lithium batteries contain dangerous and polluting elements, making their disposal a rather critical issue.
In Europe, most batteries are recycled in Germany.
There are fifteen plants capable of recovering part of the materials.
However, this is not enough: German techniques and machinery can extract lithium and manganese, valuable and non-renewable elements.
Consequently, some batteries are sent to China, where technologies allow for more complete recycling.
Patented processes for battery recycling exist, but costs are still very high.
This leads to part of the Black Mass (the part of the batteries containing lithium, manganese, cobalt, and nickel) being sent to the Far East (Korea and the Philippines) for disposal.