Tesla is opening its own battery recycling facility in Sparks, Nevada. In the past, the company had external recyclers to deal with used batteries. But now, Tesla is ready to take charge of recycling.
The facility will recycle both old car batteries from customers and test ones from R&D. The recycling process will recover lithium, aluminum, copper, cobalt, and steel from the batteries. These metals will then be reused in new batteries.
As Tesla has declared, this development is both eco-friendly and cost-saving. Recycling metals has shown to be cheaper than buying new ones. Tesla will also no longer need to ship all the batteries overseas, which is costly.
Other companies are also improving battery recycling practices. Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois has opened a research center to make recycling lithium-ion batteries more efficient and less expensive.
As more drivers switch to electric cars, battery recycling will be more and more important.
Reference:
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1122631_tesla-launches-battery-recycling-at-nevada-gigafactory
