There are more than 1.4 billion cars in the world today, and that number coulddouble by 2036.
If all those cars burn petrol or diesel, the climate consequences will be dire.
These metals are essential for making EV batteries, but theyrenot found everywhere.
Most of the worlds lithium lies underthe Atacama Desertin South America, wheremining threatenslocal people and ecosystems.
Leading manufacturers of EVs need to keep import costs low and find a reliable source of these raw materials.
Mining thedeep seais one option, but itcould also damagehabitats and endanger wildlife.
EV batteries themselves only have ashelf lifeof eight to ten years.
Lithium-ion batteries are currently recycled at a meagre rate ofless than 5%in the EU.
Instead of mining new sources of these metals,why not reusewhats already out there?
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The largest lithium-ion battery recyclers arebased in China.
Most ofthe batteries that do get recycled are melted and their metals extracted.
This is often done in large commercial facilities which use lots of energy and so emit lots of carbon.
Despite the high costs, these plants rarely recover all valuable battery materials.
Without less energy-intensive recycling methods, this emerging industry will only exacerbate environmental problems.
But there is a natural process for extracting precious metals from waste thats been used for decades.
These purified metals constitute chemical elements, and so can be recycled indefinitely into multiple supply chains.
Scaling up bioleaching involves growing bacteria in incubators at 37C, often using carbon dioxide.
This is not enough for industry.
We combine bioleaching with electro-chemical methods that can fish out these metals and make them useful for supply chains.
EV batteries are a technology still in their infancy.
The reuse of their components should be considered as part of their design.
Most ofthe batteries that do get recycled are melted and their metals extracted.
This is often done in large commercial facilities which use lots of energy and so emit lots of carbon.
