EV batteries are 80-90% recyclable, the fact that they contain valuable materials makes the recycling of them profitable.
But the question is a tad premature because after 8-15 years of use in an EV they still have another 10-20 years service life as storage for solar-generated power.
So the concern over massive problems created by a “waste monster” are most likely both premature and over hyped.
I’d worry a little more about the CO2 being pumped into our atmosphere by ICE cars. We are burning 370,000,000 gals of gasoline a day and each gallon produces 20 lbs of CO2. That’s 7,400,000,000 lbs of CO2 each day.
During combustion the carbon atoms in the gasoline combine with oxygen atoms in the compressed atmosphere in the engine cylinders to make CO2. The weight of the CO2 is equal to that combination (1 carbon atom + 2 oxygen atoms.) The carbon in a gal of gasoline weighs about 5.5 lbs and the oxygen that combines with that 5.5 lbs of carbon weighs another 14.5 lbs. So the total output of CO2 from burning a gallon of gasoline is a little over 20 lbs. That 14.5 lbs of oxygen comes through the intake valves of the combustion chambers.
The near-thorough combustion of the gasoline just provides the ideal conditions for the creation of the CO2. The IC engine scavenges the oxygen though the intake and makes the formation of the CO2 more efficient.
That’s why burning gasoline at atmospheric levels of oxygen will throw off less CO2 and more carbon, like the black smoke you see if you burn a bit of gasoline in the open, it’s the escaping carbon particles from the carbon in the gasoline that didn’t combine with oxygen.
But geography and innovation mean cobalt, lithium and copper can never be weaponized as effectively as oil and gas
And in the article it says:
Export restrictions or attempts to form an OPEC-like cartel would in time elevate prices and spur the hunt for alternatives, much as higher oil prices in the 1970s spurred production in the North Sea and Alaska’s North Slope. A recently discovered lithium deposit in a volcanic crater along the Oregon-Nevada border could be the world’s largest
Besides geographic diversification, renewable energy benefits from technological diversification. De La Noue notes that copper competes with aluminum in electrical wiring, while lithium, nickel and cobalt all compete with one another in battery chemistry. Innovators are working on sodium-ion and iron-air batteries that use no lithium.
Here’s what Peter St Onge, the star of your video, had to say about bitcoin on April 30, 2021:
“In sum, a world running on a Bitcoin Standard would be totally familiar to us today, yet better in important ways. It might be a world where creation pays light years better than conflict, where you can enjoy the fruits of your hard work without schemers siphoning your life savings while you sleep. A world where the next generation is excited by inventing things and solving long-standing challenges, rather than fighting one another in some Hobbesian cosplay that keeps us running to stay in place.”
The guy LOVES bitcoin, and we all know about THAT success story. I’d think twice before taking advice from a TikTok phenom/Herirage Foundation Research Fellow.
Quite the difference for an industry subsidy than an individual $7500 credit on a tax return. End that credit for the end user and see how the industry does.
It’s hard to shake the stereotypes and politicization of EVs, so who knows. Most people who don’t want them have never sat down to run the numbers. For example, most people have a near 0% need of a place outside of their home to charge an EV. You charge it at home and can get around 300 miles on a charge. Most people don’t drive that much in a day. I drive 60 miles round trip in my Chevy Bolt EV to work. I charge it a little over once a week and we use it in the evenings as much as possible, since it’s so much cheaper to drive per mile. It cost me $25K new right off the lot in 2021, so the notion that EVs are only for the ultra wealthy or that you need government to afford it is nonsense (I didn’t get a tax credit), since the average price of a new car right now is $43K. I crunched the numbers and it’s saving me $2,000+ every year in gas and maintenance (net savings). It would have been stupid for me to purchase a gas car for my situation.
I just read an article that said the best charging regimen for maximum battery life was to plug it in every night and keep the level between 50% and 80%.
I use a ChargePoint level 2 charger and it shuts off when the battery reaches the designated battery charge. It’s on wifi so it’s easy to keep track of with my cell phone app.
