The environmental impacts of electric vehicle batteries range from mining, and energy and water use to the hazards of discarded batteries. These issues can be resolved, but there’s no time to waste.
The vaping craze sweeping the globe is leaving a legacy of contaiminated e-waste in landfill while waste management authorities scramble to set up recycling schemes.
Air Canada and United Airlines both have orders for hybrid electric 30-seaters. An aerospace engineer explains where electrification, hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuels are headed.
Automaker GMC shows off its Hummer EVs at a plant in Detroit.
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China controls much of the global EV supply chain, but electric vehicles that use its parts and minerals won’t qualify for new US EV tax credits. Can America build its own supply chain?
The electric car makes it possible to partially decarbonize transportation, but the fate of the batteries after their use remains an open problem.
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For the moment the find in Nigeria simply points to the potential for lithium resource. Full exploration will be necessary.
Whenever we eat, speak or yawn, the movement of our jaw deforms the ear canal. These deformations could be converted into electrical energy used to power in-ear technology.
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Lithium is essential for batteries that power electric vehicles and store energy from solar and wind farms. A new U.S. source could provide 10 times more lithium than the country uses today.
An e-highway test track in Germany.
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Technical advances are reducing the volume of e-waste generated in the US as lighter, more compact products enter the market. But those goods can be harder to reuse and recycle.
What happens to millions of these?
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Zheng Chen, University of California, San Diego and Darren H. S. Tan, University of California, San Diego
Batteries power much of modern life, from electric and hybrid cars to computers, medical devices and cellphones. But unless they’re made easier and cheaper to recycle, a battery waste crisis looms.
Garbage trucks, buses and the van that delivers your Amazon purchases are all prime candidates for electrification.
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Electric vehicles can have a positive impact on the climate and air pollution levels, but governments should rethink how they electrify the transportation network.
Replacing carbon-emitting gas-powered cars with EVs requires whittling away EVs’ price premium, and that comes down to one thing: battery cost.
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EVs will have lower sticker prices than gas vehicles when batteries are cheaper. Getting there comes down to knowing where to cut costs.
Lithium-ion batteries are already supporting renewable power generation, but a future without fossil fuels will need even better battery technology.
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