Lithium-ion Battery Recycling: Closing the Gap for Finite Materials

The lithium-ion battery pack used in the Nissan Leaf contains 192 pouch cells, that of the Tesla Model S contains 7,104 cylindrical cells, all bundled into modules that are screwed, welded, and glued together to be controlled as one unit. As batteries start to pile up, carmakers, battery companies, and researchers are trying to save them from ending up in landfills.

Recyclers are primarily interested in extracting the valuable metals and minerals in the cells such as lithium, nickel, copper, cobalt., etc. Recycling wasn’t much of an issue when EVs were still not common. There were 11 . . .