Ever wondered, how a Car Battery was recycled?

The transition towards electric mobility is not 100% carbon neutral and it is time that we all accept this fact.

Unfortunately, electric vehicles were presented as 100% carbon neutral in the last years. In fact, this is not true. If we look at the entire supply chain, electric vehicles emit around 30 tons of CO2 eq. during their life time. In order to get electric vehicles more sustainable, recycling and reusing the most important components becomes crucial. The biggest impact is done by the mining of the raw materials and the production of Lithium-Ion Batteries. Around 140 kg of CO2 equivalents per kWh are emitted during the production of Lithium-Ion Batteries. If we think about a Tesla Model S with a 95kWh battery, this would lead to an emission of 13.3 tons of CO2 eq. Adding the in majority still fossil based energy sources for the electricity to charge the batteries, the 30 tons CO2 eq. per Lifetime are easy to understand.