How are the batteries in hybrid cars to be disposed of?

Question

Just wondering what is going to happen when the cars are old and the batteries are dead. Is this a potential harm to the environment?

Answer 1

Current hybrids use Nickle Metal Hydride, NiMH

and all manufactures will completly recycle them without harm to the environment. (there is probably more nickle in your stainless steel cuttlery)

The same cannot be said for most other metal composite components in an infernal combustion engine, catalyctic exausts, coolant systems & all the petrochemicals used in their life.

the latest generation Li-ion batteries give a much better peformance, 20+year life, 10 minute recharge times

http://www.altairnano.com/markets_amps.h...

so we can get rid of the inferal combustion parts that do harm the environment

Answer 2

Battery life is highly dependent on the demands placed on the battery.

If you deep discharge a battery you create oxidation products inside it.  These can interfere with the battery's capability to store energy (reduce capacity) and/or possibly short the battery cell(s)  

Usually, after some number of discharge-charge cycles, its a combination of both, resulting in a battery that measures 0 volts no matter how much you try to charge it.

Heat ( a byproduct of demanding high current) can accelerate this oxidation.

Because the people who would tend to buy the hybrids would also tend to be people who will not abuse their vehicles by demanding the maximum performance they can get from them... the batteries would be expected to last longer than if the average driver was using the same vehicle.

Thus... I'm not surprised at all that the batteries are lasting longer than the manufacturers expected.

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Any battery is just a controlled chem lab experiment... different metals and an electrolytic "solution" (sometimes that solution is a gel... )

The metals AND acid can be reprocessed for reuse.  Batteries are only difficult to recycle due to the hazardous materials often involved. (Lead is a poison. Cadmium is a poison, acids are dangerous to handle...)

Labor and energy... plus a relatively small amount of (also recyclable...) hazardous waste products and you can make new batteries from old ones.

Answer 3

I heard that it was going to cost about $6,000 for a new battery and to have the old battery disposed of.  Not sure what truth there is to the statement though.

Answer 4

the batteries will be recycled as they are now. after the chemical reactivity is weak or gone they can be taken to a recycling plant and harvested to make new ones or other related products.

Answer 5

Well interestingly relatively few batteries have been taken out of service yet. They are lasting far longer than anyone hoped.

Toyota for instance has a complete recycling program in place. The following is from an interview with Mary Nickerson, Technical Marketing Manager for Toyota Prius

Can you tell us more about how life cycle studies, material selection, and recycling questions were managed during the design process?

By example I can. Toyota dealers and the nine regional Toyota parts distribution centers collaborate on battery recycling. That kind of networking is something Toyota generally excels at. When a customer's Prius battery pack needs replacement, the truck that delivered a new one to his dealer returns to the parts center with the spent battery, and any other parts destined for disassembly and reclamation. When enough batteries have accumulated at a parts center to fill a truck, they are shipped to a recycle operation.

This is from the Toyota web site:

Recycling of Batteries from Hybrid Vehicles  

In preparing for recycling of end-of-life Prius hybrid vehicles in the future, Toyota worked together with Panasonic EV Energy (PEVE) and Seino Transportation Co., Ltd. to set up in 1998 a nationwide recycling system that aims to collect and recycle all nickel-metal hydride batteries. Toyota has also drafted a dismantling manual for nickel-metal hydride batteries, which has been distributed to 1,300 collection and dismantling companies through Toyotsu Recycle Corporation.

Update:

The battery charge and discharge are controlled by the car's computer. There is no way for the driver to abuse the battery because the driver does not control how the battery is either charged are discharged. The computer maintains the battery charge in a range between about 50% and 70% or so, which results in the battery life being many thousands to tens of thousands of charge cycles. No mater how you drive the car the battery will last the life of the car. Some Prius's used as taxis have as much as 300,000 miles on the original batteries.