As a well-informed electronic engineer you should know that 2 recycling ways of lithium ion battery exists: thermal melting and mechanical shredding. To state that they are simply burned is a confirmed BS.

In the process of melting, the battery cells are melted down. The different melting points allow the raw materials to be separated from each other. Cobalt, copper, nickel and lithium can be recovered to a large extent by the process. However, other materials such as graphite, electrolyte and aluminum are lost.

In the process shredding, the batteries are mechanically reduced in size and sorted into the individual raw materials in the further process. Shredding achieves a recycling rate of 96 percent and the raw materials from recovery are used, for example, in the production of new batteries.

The process of recycling the electric car battery can also save large amounts of CO2 emissions as opposed to new production.

And if electricity for transportation is a dead end road will be latestly decided in a couple of decades when the world reserves of oil are fully gone. Maybe engineers have found at that time a way to produce enormous quantities of electricity which you will definetly need to produce for e-fuels for use in engines with the lowest efficiency (if you compare fossile fuels powered engines with electric engines).

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There's also a few schemes to use end-of-life car batteries for town power cells until they're completely unchargeable.

I remember a pro-fossil fuel study a while ago that said a Prius was more environmentally damaging than a new Jeep ... in the actual research they assumed that a Prius was built to last 70,000 miles and a Jeep 300,000. Of course, there are plenty of Prius' that get to around 250,000 miles before needing battery attention and even then it's possible to swap individual cells to keep the car going.

In other news, there's not going to be any scrapping of 1 year old diesels. I don't know about where other people are, but here people sell used cars to other people ... not everyone lives in cities, even here, so it'll have a knock-on effect of people in rural areas being able to get less polluting cars.

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FreeBSD fan since before it was cool ...

E.G. since 2018:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/...car-batteries/

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Speaking as a metallurgist I have to confirm Rapax’ statement - the recycling rate of metals in batteries in very high - the metallurgists have spent large amount of time an energy extracting the metals from their ores and so when there is a highly concentrated source - like batteries - they will extract the metal from there in preference -it is waaaaay cheaper and waaaay easier and uses just a small fraction of the energy used to get the metal in the first place.

I think that in a few years time there will be two forms of energy used for cars / bikes etc = batteries and hydrogen - and both of those are electric vehicles. The end of the internal combustion engine as a mass transport energy source is approaching.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

Speaking as someone who likes travelling by motorcycle, I'm considering travelling to Asturias and Galicia and maybe ducking down into northern Portugal in the early summer, in order to ride stuff that was too cold and wet earlier this year. I'll likely avoid larger urban areas, not because of their clean air zones, but because my carburettored motorcycle is more fun in the hills and mountains.

(Not a mech/ elec/ auto engineer, nor a metalurgist, so unable to stray off topic).

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TBS.com

Thanks a lot Chris.....i've just sprayed tea over my feckin laptop....ah well it was time for a new one anyway. Maybe I can make some money recycling the battery

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The electric monk always has faith.