Just been reading an article that says VW are concerned about the lack of facilities for producing Lithium ion battery cells for the tens of MILLIONS of electric vehicles that are going to be produced over the next 20 years
It did occur to me, do the manufacturers have a plan for the disposal of these toxic batteries when they reach their end of life? or are we just going to wait for a scandal to break where they are shipped out and dumped on a Caribbean Island for our grandchildren to sort out in the years to come
Who will want to buy an electric vehicle when it's 10 -15 years old? Who will pick up the tab for safe disposal or recycling?
From what I've read there is currently only one place to get them disposed off properly and that's in the USA. It's a steel manufacturing plant that melts them into molten steel when it's made.
for us its up to the manufacturer to sort it out under the current European law, (WEEE) same as normal batteries and TV's etc. There is a plant in Sweden somewhere that collects and store's them before ship[ping them of to the Yanks.
As for owning old Electric / Hybrids I have a 17 year old Prius that's still going strong !!, doing 60 mpg, well worth the £300 it cost me 18 months ago.