How Much Does It Cost To Dispose Of An Electric Car Battery?- A Complete Guide 2024

How much does it cost to dispose of an electric car battery? | Cost of recycling an electric car battery

Disposal of the electric car batteries is not simple as disposal of other electronic wastes. Electric car batteries are expensive, they need care and they are harmful too. Being harmful How much does it cost to dispose of an electric car battery?

The cost to dispose of an electric car battery is $6,750. That means $4.50 per pound of the Tesla electric car battery. While industry experts say that it costs $90 to process a metric ton of the material coming from batteries,

Let’s have a look over, what is the cost to dispose of an electric car battery and how many hidden costs are involved in electric car battery disposal.

How to Dispose of an Electric Car Battery?

Before we move to, the cost of disposing of an electric car battery, we should know how many ways electric car batteries are disposed of.

The electric car battery is best disposed of by recycling. There are three ways by which you can dispose of an electric car battery.

Dispose into the landfills
Reuse the battery
Recycle the battery

From that three ways, if you are thinking about disposing of them in landfills then it is harmful to you as well as others. We have discussed in detail why disposing of an electric car battery in landfills in our previous article. You can read that.

When it comes to electric car battery reuse that’s the best way to minimize the load of disposing of electric car batteries, on the earth. Batteries can be re-used for powering your house, or grid. They can be used till they lose their full capacity.

You might be thinking, what if we replace our electric car battery within the warranty period? How will companies dispose of them?

It depends on automakers whether they recycle or dispose or reuse them. An automaker can use the old electric car batteries for other purposes such as powering the security gates, powering the grid, etc.

While for an automaker disposing of the electric car batteries is like ignoring the treasure you have. The automakers like tesla, and Nissan claim that they recycle electric car batteries.

So the best way to dispose of electric car batteries is by recycling. Because the ultimate benefit is that we don’t need to mine the materials that can come from recycling.

How Much does it Cost to Dispose of an Electric Car Battery?

Electric car batteries are not easy to dispose of. When we talk about the cost to dispose of an electric car battery, we mostly talk about electric car battery recycling.

Because disposing of electric car batteries in landfills or reusing the electric car batteries doesn’t cost much or anything.

Cost to dispose of an electric car battery in the landfills

The cost to dispose of an electric car battery in landfills is $0. Means nothing. You can absolutely dispose of it for free.

You can also give it to the E-waste management firm. But it costs much to you when it comes to the broad perspective. Disposing of an electric car battery costs harm to the environment, harm to the land, and harm to someone’s life.

Still, if we think from a money perspective, it can cost you the transportation, and packaging charges. If any landfill disposal firm charges you for that then that can be a disposal fee. This is the cost to dispose of an electric car battery in landfills.

Cost to dispose of an electric car battery – Recycling

The cost of recycling an electric car battery is absolutely nothing to the customers. But for the disposal firms, recycling firms, and automakers the cost to dispose of an electric car battery through recycling is in some thousand dollars per battery.

It costs $6,750 to recycle a tesla electric car battery. That means $4.50 power pound of the tesla electric car battery. While industry experts say that it cost $90 to process a metric ton of the material coming from batteries.

Patrick Curran has explained in simple language, the economics of lithium-ion battery recycling in an article.

According to it, it costs $90 per metric ton to convert electric car batteries into black mass through recycling. And the black mass that generates from it can be sold for $300 per metric ton.

“One metric ton of incoming batteries will cost approximately $90 for processing, with black mass selling for about $300 or more and the metallics for about $500. That’s a profitable recycling operation.”
The Economics Around Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Are Strong and Growing

And this is not the end. The metals present in the battery can make around $500. So processing electric car batteries for $90 per metric ton of the material and gaining $300 for black mass and $500 for metals in it, is absolutely a profitable business.

So if we consider that electric car battery is better disposed of by recycling, then it costs $90 per metric ton to dispose of an electric car battery. It is the cost of the processing.

Another insight that might be helpful to you is that, the amount of copper per metric ton of the batteries is around $450 and for aluminum is $53.

But that is when the company sells the materials present in the black mass. But the company has to process the black mass into useful materials, which also cost dollars.

There is little information available on how much exactly the cost to dispose of an electric car battery is. This is because the market is still immature and there are few electric car battery recycling plants.

Kyle Cannon writes in gearandcylinder, that cost of recycling each pound of material in tesla’s electric car battery is $4.50. And this cumulates to $6,750 to recycle an electric car battery.

So we can say that cost to dispose of an electric car battery through recycling is near to $7000. Though it looks a good business, there are lots of hidden costs involved in it.

How Electric Car Batteries are Recycled?

Basically, the electric car battery process can be divided into five stages. The various stages of recycling an electric car battery are as follows.

Collection securing and fully discharging an electric car battery

So in the recycling process, the electric car batteries are collected first. Various recycling companies pick the electric car batteries from the home directly. After that, they are examined for security and discharged fully.

Dismantling

Then electric car batteries are dismantled. All the parts that can be dismantled are separated. The crucial part is breaking the seal and opening the battery.

Since it involves electrolytes and can cause fire, it is done under high safety. It can be done both manually or by machine.

Mechanical separation and black mass extraction

The mechanical separation is done to extract the black mass that makes the battery. The black mass is highly enriched with the metals present in the electric car battery.

Hydrometallurgy (Extracting Metals from ores)

The metals present in the black mass, are separated and isolated with the help of hydrometallurgy. Hydrometallurgy is a technique within the field of extractive metallurgy, the obtaining of metals from their ores.

After long processes, the metals are separated from each other from the black mass.

Refining

The metals that are isolated, cannot be used directly in the electric car batteries. In order to make them usable, they need to undergo refining.

So this is how in general electric car batteries are recycled. But there are several other methods also employed in recycling.

The battery is shredded so it becomes more manageable. Still, it needs manual work to separate those pieces according to the material.

While the heating and melting make it easier to manage. So these are the two approaches that can be followed to recycle the battery.

Why Recycling Electric Car Batteries is so Expensive?

There are lots of things that are challenging in the recycling process. The separation process itself is a complex process, and it needs certain kinds of environments, types of equipment, etc.

After that complex process, the separated materials need to go into a process of transformation, so that they can become usable. This includes refining, processing, etc.

Recycling electric car batteries are expensive because of the equipment, transportation, process, labor, and other costs involved in it.

Here I tried to break down the different costs involved in recycling an electric car battery. We have not mentioned any numbers here, these are just the types of costs involved.

Different types of the costs involved in disposal of the electric car batteries.
Cost to dispose of an electric car battery — ***Different costs involved in electric car battery recycling***

Land, Labour, Equipment, and legal cost

First of all, setting up an electric car battery recycling plant takes a lot of money. The cost of land is one of the costs. Another aspect is equipment.

There is a need for highly specific and expensive equipments for electric car battery recycling. The cost of labor can be included along with that. Legal permissions and processes also add to the cost.

Processing cost

During the separation, some of the material gets lost in the black mass. Also, the separation of the contents from that black mass is hard.

Transportation cost

Also, the transportation of the batteries to the recycling plants is difficult. The recycling companies can directly pick up the electric car batteries from your home to the plant.

While at some recycling plants you have to submit it to the electric car battery recycling firms.

Dependence on other countries

The dependence on other countries is also another factor that adds to the cost of electric car battery recycling. The parts of the electric car battery are not made in the nation, and the recycled material needs to be transported to the factories of other countries. This can be time-consuming and makes it expensive.

Other costs

The other cost includes electricity cost, water cost, material cost, etc.

Conclusion

Conclusion #1: Average cost to dispose of an electric car battery

The cost to dispose of an electric car battery is around $7000, based on the cost to recycle a tesla electric car battery which is $6,750.

The Cost to process one metric ton of incoming batteries to black mass is $90. While the black mass is approximately worth $300 and metals around $500.

The different costs involved in electric car battery recycling and disposal are transportation, labor, packaging, equipment’s, lands, and legal costs.

Conclusion #2: Three ways to dispose of an electric car battery.

The electric car battery is best disposed of by recycling. There are three ways by which you can dispose of an electric car battery.

Dispose into the landfills
Reuse the battery

Recycle the battery

So hope this little but comprehensive piece of article, helped you to find what is the actual cost to dispose of an electric car battery.

Well, I leave you with a question, is it really helpful for the environment to recycle electric car batteries?

FAQs

What happens when millions of electric car batteries get old?

All the old electric car batteries are either disposed of in landfills, reused, or recycled. Many companies and automakers store old electric car batteries and use them for other purposes.
Also, the recycling market for electric car batteries is becoming big. Disposing into landfills is seriously harmful to the environment, humans animals, and the earth.
While reusing the battery is the best way to make the best use of the electric car battery. The battery can be reused to power the house, power the grid, etc. While recycling is the green way to dispose of an electric car battery, then making them buried in landfills.

How much does it cost to dispose of an electric car battery?

It cost to dispose of an electric car battery is $6,750. That means $4.50 per pound of the tesla electric car battery. While industry experts say that it cost $90 to process a metric ton of the material coming from batteries.

One metric ton of incoming batteries will cost approximately $90 for processing, with black mass selling for about $300 or more and the metallics for about $500. That’s a profitable recycling operation.

How do you recycle car batteries?

Electric car battery recycling can be distributed in five stages.
1. Collection securing and fully discharging an electric car battery
2. Dismantling
3. Mechanical separation and black mass extraction
4. Hydrometallurgy
5. Refining

What are different electric car disposal laws?

The electric car battery disposal laws such as the battery act, differ from each other depending on the local authorities. You can check the battery regulations of your region on the battery council’s official website.

How much does it cost to dispose of an electric car battery?- A complete guide 2024