Despite decades of evidence on the toxic effects of lead battery recycling, companies opted not to act and blocked efforts to clean up the industry.
Despite decades of evidence on the toxic effects of lead battery recycling, companies opted not to act and blocked efforts to clean up the industry.
Misleading headline making it sounds like all battery recycling poisons people. Half assed battery recycling is half assed.
Also sodium ion or some other lead-free formulation will likely replace lead acid 12v batteries over the next few years.
The advantage lead acid has for ICE is that it can dump a lot of current all at once. The C output rate on sodium ion isn’t that high, IIRC.
There have been lithium batteries used for the purpose. The original Miata used one because standard lead acid cells caused corrosion issues in the chassis. But lithium has its own supply chain issues.
Ultimately, this goes away because ICE cars go away.
Me wondering how ICE is tracking people through their car batteries when I first read this 🤔
I thought they meant that the rapid high current output of lead batteries was better for torture.
Well, there is still the temperature constraints of Lipo and LiFePo batteries (the latter being much better at cold and hot charging).
But the point is that lithium batteries operate under a pretty big compromise of needing heating and cooling when temps are too cold and too hot, respectively. That is where lead acid has a pretty significant advantage.
Edit: I had a 1991 miata, and I don’t recall having a lithium battery. It was rear-mounted, though.
I lol’d because growing up in cold climate. You had to put a block heater to keep your engines warm enough to start. That ran off electricity. So… You know, batteries keeping themselves warm isn’t really different.
Right this very minute I’ve got two battery tenders keeping the lead acid batteries trickle charged on some motorcycles in my garage.
None of this shit is different in any meaningful way.
I’m from Winnipeg, I know.
It is functionally very different. We heat our blocks, but rare is the person with a battery blanket.
Teslas need warming and cooling for their batteries, and even at that, they lose huge range in super cold winters. But that isn’t the real problem, which is that recharge cycles are fewer and fewer every time you charge a cold li-ion.
The newer EVs are switching to heat pumps for managing battery temperature. It’s more efficient than resistive heat, and can use the same system for cooling. This helps maintain range both by keeping batteries the right temperature and by doing it more efficiently.
And who in Winnipeg hasn’t heard of what happens if you let your gas tank get too empty in extreme cold?
That’s where capacitor-based jump-starters come in.
Related Electroboom video