Cheapest/Greenest car to run?

almillar

forgotmyname said:

Yes both can be the case. Lithium is difficult to extract but more cost effective to do than recycle some old battery
 pack of an uknown quantity.

Same with a lot of plastics, its cheaper and better for the enviroment to create new plastic than recycle
old waste plastic.

I have been lead to believe that batteries area easy to recycle, and that this comes after their re-use, which you have ignored. I didn't mention plastic.

Ditzy_Mitzy

almillar said:

forgotmyname said:

Yes both can be the case. Lithium is difficult to extract but more cost effective to do than recycle some old battery
 pack of an uknown quantity.

Same with a lot of plastics, its cheaper and better for the enviroment to create new plastic than recycle
old waste plastic.

I have been lead to believe that batteries area easy to recycle, and that this comes after their re-use, which you have ignored. I didn't mention plastic.

I don't know who has led you to believe recycling is easy, however he appears to know something the rest of the world doesn't.  Apparently recycled lithium, by weight, is five times more expensive than newly mined lithium.  One also has to consider that battery recycling is done by, amongst other things, smelting the metals in order to separate the lithium from the cobalt and slag.  Owing to this the process consumes fossil fuels and produces metal slag as well as other waste products.

almillar

And re-use?!

Talking about batteries being a problem after they leave a vehicle, when they can be reused, then recycled, regardless of cost, is pretty rich compared to the cost of digging up crude oil, refining it, distributing it, then burning it once. Which is more efficient?!