What to do with Old EV Batteries? Tesla has one Answer! General Motors and ABB have another!

In reading Articles about Electric Vehicles - some times the comments are all seemingly negative, but even then - I learn things by other peoples responses that I did not even know - like this one: "Tesla's Closed Loop Battery Recycling Program" from January 26, 2011.

The Key part of their information - beyond how much they can get back into usable products from batteries into new batteries and construction materials, was this line: "Working with Umicore has allowed us to completely recycle the Roadster battery packs profitably, without special financial incentives necessary to promote recycling (as opposed to the lithium manganese or lithium iron phosphate chemistries used in the electric vehicles just hitting the road now)."

It was interesting - as my own interest is in the Lithium Iron Phosphate Cells and Batteries! So when they say - "We already reuse cobalt in the batteries. The overall closed loop recycling system becomes possible, and much more efficient, once the quantities rise to a level to justify the investment for recycling of the other components – especially the plastic." - you can see that they have heard the question, and not just thought of the Answer - but began to work it already!

Besides Recycling their Lithium Cobalt  Batteries - Tesla has been steadily learning that there are still people in the field of Journalism that can't get un-negative about electric cars - even the best Electric Car on the road today! So they find ways to make it fail, out of effort, ignorance, and bad judgement - as covered in this rebuttal by Elon Musk - A Most Peculiar Test Drive.

The Journalist said Cold Weather was Bad for the Car, But did they drive it on Ice Like Tesla Did?

Cold Weather Climate Testing the Model S


Saying it was never tested in cold - is just a punchline showing lack of research!

What to do with old EV batteries? Convert to energy storage system! GM + ABB Work on it!

General Motors (GM) and ABB have successfully converted used Chevy Volt batteries into a modular microgrid energy storage system that can support distributed generation and provide emergency backup power.

Other microgrid energy storage systems have recently come online, but this one is the first to revolve around batteries from electric vehicles.

The system, comprised of five used Volt batteries, can provide 25 kilowatts (kW) of power for about two hours for a total energy capacity of 50 kWh. This capacity could provide enough electricity to power three to five average American homes for two hours.

“When an EV battery has reached the end of its life in an automotive application, only 30 percent or less of its life has been used,” said Pablo Valencia of GM. “This leaves a tremendous amount of life that can be applied to....”(More)