U.S. Targets 90% Recycling Rate for Lithium-Ion Batteries
The U.S. aims to improve the recyclability and reuse of lithium-ion batteries from less than 5% today to 90% in coming years.
#hybrid
The U.S. aims to improve the recyclability and reuse of lithium-ion batteries from less than 5% today to 90% in coming years.
To help spur development, the Dept. of Energy is forming a Battery R&D Recycling Center that will be operated by national labs in Illinois and Tennessee. DOE is investing $15 million in the project.
DOE also is sponsoring a battery recycling prize that will award $5.5 million to winners in three stages. The prize encourages participants to develop innovative technologies for collecting, storing and recycling lithium-ion batteries.
The DOE initiatives focus on reclaiming and recycling cobalt and lithium materials from batteries used in automotive, consumer electronics, defense and energy storage applications. Prices of the two materials have spiked in recent years as global demand for batteries used in cell phones to electrified vehicles increase.
The world’s largest producers of lithium are Australia, Chile and Argentina. Congo is the largest supplier of cobalt, with the country’s mines accounting for more than 60% of global output.
RELATED CONTENT
-
When Automated Production Turning is the Low-Cost Option
For the right parts, or families of parts, an automated CNC turning cell is simply the least expensive way to produce high-quality parts. Here’s why.
-
On Electric Pickups, Flying Taxis, and Auto Industry Transformation
Ford goes for vertical integration, DENSO and Honeywell take to the skies, how suppliers feel about their customers, how vehicle customers feel about shopping, and insights from a software exec
-
Jeeps Modified for Moab
On Easter morning in Moab, Utah, when the population of that exceedingly-hard-to-get-to town in one of the most beautiful settings on Earth has more than doubled, some people won’t be hunting for Easter eggs, but will be trying to get a good look at one of the vehicles six that Jeep has prepared for real-life, fast-feedback from the assembled at the annual Easter Jeep Safari.