The Hazards of Electric Car Batteries and Their Recycling

Abstract

In recent years, under the double pressure of energy exhaustion and environmental deterioration, the development of electric vehicles has become the major development trend of the automotive industry in the future. This paper discusses the problem of abandoned batteries caused by the limited life of a large number of batteries with the prosperity of new energy vehicle industry. This paper lists and analyzes the different characteristics of batteries commonly used by three new energy vehicles in the market :(1) lead-acid batteries will not leak in the use process due to tight sealing, but their use cycle is very short. (2) The production of nickel metal hydride battery is relatively mature, its production cost is low, and compared with lithium electronic battery is safer. (3) Lithium-ion batteries are made of non-toxic materials, which makes them known as “green batteries”. However, they are expensive to make and have poor compatibility with other batteries. Because discarded batteries pose a threat to human health and environmental sustainability, lithium-ion batteries may overheat and fire when exposed to high temperatures or when penetrated, releasing carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide that can be very harmful to human health. In addition, waste batteries will also cause water pollution and inhibit the growth and reproduction of aquatic organisms and other potential dangers. Therefore, it is necessary to recycle it efficiently. This paper then introduces the advantages of three recycling methods: step utilization and recovery, ultrasonic recovery and sodium ion battery. These recycling methods can maximize the reuse efficiency of waste batteries. This paper expects to find a better way to recycle waste batteries to solve the potential problems of improper disposal of waste batteries and reduce the environmental hazards of waste batteries.