Electric vehicle (EV) sales increased by 40% between 2019 and 2020 to a record 3 million units [9]. It is estimated that more than 10 million electric vehicles will be on the road in 2020, and the International Energy Agency predicts that this number will be between 145 million and 230 million by 2030 [8]. The electric vehicle market has seen incredible growth over the past five years or so, driven by industry and government investment and scientific support.
Electric vehicles are associated with reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improved urban air quality compared to conventional fossil fuel vehicles. However, these environmental benefits are undermined by environmental waste problems that are expected to be hit by "battery bombs" consisting of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) [3] that run out within 10 to 15 years.
The vast majority of electric vehicles use LIBs because lithium is lightweight, energy-dense, and durable enough to be recharged repeatedly [11]. According to conservative estimates in 2017, the average battery pack weighs more than half a ton, about 250 kilograms or 550 pounds, and has a volume of half a cubic meter, or about thirty-five cubic feet. Without intervention, when the batteries in all EVs sold in 2017 died, the resulting battery pack waste would have reached 250,000 tons and over 17 million cubic feet [6].
There is now a clear need for waste management work for EV batteries.
