Slashdot Mirror
Environmental Cost of Hybrids' Battery Recycling?
LostMyBeaver writes "I have been considering the purchase of an electric or hybrid vehicle for some time. The biggest problem I have currently is that both technologies make use of rechargable batteries. The same tree-huggers telling me gasoline is bad are telling me that batteries are bad too. I'm only partially knowledgable in this area, but it appears the battery technologies are generally based at least on lithium ion, nickel metal hydride, lead acid and nickel-cadmium. I was hoping someone on Slashdot would be knowledgable enough to explain the environmental cost of recycling these batteries. If I understand correctly, after these chemicals are 'spent' so the cells no longer maintain a charge, they are not useful for producing new batteries. I can only imagine that the most common method of recycling the cells is to store the toxic chemicals of the batteries in barrels and refilling the cells with new chemicals. This sounds like an environmental disaster to me. Is there someone here that can help me sleep better at night by explaining what really happens?"
With the rising price of metals, the Nickel content alone will guarantee that no one will dump these by the side of the road (btw that would also apply to the NiCd kind). The automotive industry traditionally has been very good to reclaim every last bit that has value, even if it's only pennies. And the batteries will probably have in the 10 - 100 dollar worth of raw material in them.
I'm aging rapidly, I bought a new game and had no idea if my machine was good for it.
30 minutes? You have obviously never seen professional thieves at work. On topping a hill on 620 in Dallas once, I saw a van pull over in front of a car parked on the edge of the highway, as it backed up to the car the rear double doors opened and a cherry picker was extended on rails out of the back of it while several people leaped out of it carrying air tools and cutting torches etc and proceeded to strip the car. The van pulled away before I got to the bottom of the hill and the car was sitting on the pavement minus wheels, doors, hood, engine etc. This was maybe 30 seconds of time spent. No doubt they can work out a routine for hybrids. Of course for the small timer, catalytic converters seem to be one of the items of choice atm.
Well said Bruce, I remeber back in 1977 when I was at tech school for the local Telco. There was a 50v power supply for exchanges back then, running from a huge battery, capable of 5,000 amps.
A lecturer was showing us some details of a connector strip when he got his gold wedding ring across the battery and earth. It was VAPOURISED off his finger!
I will never forget the smell!
I never wore a watch or ring again at work after that.
It actually goes back to the early days of the artillery. A batterie (french, from battre = to fight) consists of two trains of two cannons each together with their teams of loaders, cannoniers and aimers.