How Green are Electric Car Batteries?
The
electric car is increasingly popular on our roads and thanks to greater
efficiency, a more main stream adoption of the autos and also better quality
cars. Even with the fossil fuelled alternative becoming more efficient in
recent years, the electric car is still pushing itself up the car ranks each
and every year.
Of course,
the main power source of such a car is the lithium battery and it’s
improvements in these areas that have really and truly helped these cars become
more popular. Ranges have increased dramatically, as have lifespans and the
weight of the batteries. However, one has to ask how green are these car
batteries really? We want to know how green the Nissan Leaf we offer at frontierleasing.co.uk is
and so let’s take a look.
Lithium
Lithium is
a natural resource and unlike many others used in manufacturing is very easy to
get to and doesn’t require destruction of the earth. There’s no need for strip
mining or dynamite in the creation of lithium. Most lithium on earth is located
in South America in the Andes, though there are smaller amounts also located
around the world elsewhere too, though the South American version is easier to
extract.
Most
Lithium
Most
lithium is found in underground ponds and is easily extracted from the lake.
The lakes are generally pumped and then the lithium is what remains on the
bottom. This results in it being left to dry in the sun and soon the muddy
gloop becomes lithium carbonate. This can then be sent for processing, which is
also clean and easy to do. Most of the harmful materials in lithium batteries are
in fact copper and aluminium and their extraction.
The other
main source of pollution for these devices is the transport of the materials.
This transport uses fossil fuel powered vehicles to move from A-B and this
causes issues.
The battery
is then assembled at the plant and then placed in the car, which will then
produce no emissions.
Charge and
Charge Holding
A lithium
battery will hold up to 80 per cent of a charge after a decade, which is still
quite good considering the age of the technology. When the charge runs below
this rate the battery can still be used however. Many of these batteries are
then sent to wind farms, where they are used to store power that’s created from
a grid. Eventually, however they do outstay their lifespan and need to be
recycled.
A large
part of a lithium car battery can be recycled and most of the useful bits are
reused. For instance electric car manufacturer Tesla will use the fluids from
the battery for cooling. They also use the wires and batteries again too. All
the other remaining pieces are recycled and separated into individual metals to
be used again elsewhere.
Lithium
batteries main issue is the lack of recycling plants, however because these
batteries are only currently coming to market, in time they should pop up in
abundance as there is a need for them and money to be made.
So, as you
can see the lithium battery is quite a practical form of power for a car and a
quite green one too.
Author Bio:
Derek
Devlin is a lover of cars and autos and has written for a variety of auto sites
in his time. He loves electric cars and
is very fond of Tesla’s movements.