Environmental Aspects of Batteries

Hash Tag Fact Check

• Lead acid is 99% recycled today. Lithium ion is hardly recycled - [1]
• Lithium batteries rely on strategic resources and are not great for the environment - [2]
• 'Thus, while the 99% recycling statistic is important, it may understate the potential for lead contamination via this process. However, the situation would definitely be much worse if these batteries were being landfilled, as a single lead acid battery in a landfill has the potential to contaminate a large area. ' - [3]
• '“Our batteries are highly recyclable - based on our Bill of Materials on average we have 83% of steel and copper, by weight. They are close to 100% recyclable. There are technologies being developed to recycle the rest, which is Li-ion cells themselves. Some companies already claim 50%, which takes OneCharge batteries to around 90% recycling rate. It is important to mention that we plan to repurpose the batteries after the end of their useful life in lift trucks. Around 80% of cells usually can still work in less demanding applications, such as home energy storage. There is a lot of potential here, we just have not accumulated enough old batteries, they just keep working!”' - [4]

Lithium vs Lead Acid Life

• If low depth of discharge - only 20% - lead acid lasts a long time. 7000 cycles, or 20 years. [5]

Generation Costs

• The renewable revolution has been won - [6]. Polsky is a wind power billionaire, says '“If you’re just making money, you can only go so far,’’ he says. “When you have a mission, a conviction, you perform on a completely different level. You believe so strongly, you don’t take no for an answer.”'