Hybrid cars are regarded as the environmentally friendly motoring option of the future, and are used by people who not only care for the planet, but are keen to test out emerging eco-friendly technologies.
The aspect that makes hybrid cars environmentally friendly is the fact that they reduce carbon emissions, however, one issue that arises in using hybrid vehicles, is the end-of-life recycling of their batteries.
The demand for metals used in batteries, such as lithium, nickel and cobalt continues to increase, however, recycling machinery, as well as the procedure being used for this process, is currently highly inefficient. For instance, the cost incurred for recycling batteries (such as buying and maintaining recycling machinery) exceeds that of mining new lithium (used in Li ion type batteries).
The demand for household batteries is also increasing on a daily basis, and it is thought that new household batteries could be produced by recycling material from old hybrid car batteries. Provided that the proper recycling machinery is available, this idea can be converted into a reality. In fact, you’ll be glad to know that it has already been achieved by Energizer.
Energizer’s New ‘Recharge’ Batteries contain Recycled Material
Energizer has come up with a potential solution for this issue. It has introduced new ‘recharge’ batteries; the world’s first rechargeable batteries containing recycled materials. These new batteries consist of 4% recycled battery material, some of which comes from old hybrid cars (NiMH type batteries). Company representatives suggest that they are attracted to older hybrid cars, like the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight, as they use batteries of NiMH type. Such cars belong to the class of non-plug hybrids as NiMH batteries are used mostly in this type of hybrid cars. With newer hybrids often being plugins, it’s likely that recycling machinery will have to be developed to recycle those cars too, but we are sure that bridge will be crossed when it comes to it.
Household batteries also make use of NiMH chemistry, and provided that the right recycling machinery is available, old hybrid car batteries can be used to produce a percentage of the material used to produce AA or AAA type batteries. It must be ensured that the Recycling machinery is quite efficient, otherwise this activity would require more investment than the results it is expected to yield.
How is it done?
Energizer has not given many details regarding the equipment or methods it uses to produce recycled battery material for its newly launched products. It is only known that the old batteries are sent to a recycling facility and go through a process that involves the refining of an active ingredient through a proprietary process.
Other ways to reuse old Batteries
One way of reusing the batteries is for storing electricity. When connected to a solar panel, batteries can act as great storage devices. Numerous batteries can be used to store electricity produced by solar panels for household purposes. It could be a good idea to recycle old hybrid car batteries and make household batteries from them, as this would undoubtedly reduce the impact on our environment, as well as the threats regarding the exhaustion of natural resources.