So you drive an energy efficient, zero emission electric car or a hybrid with a battery pack. What happens to the lithium battery when you are finished with the car?

nissan-lithium-ion-battery

Recycle: Car manufacturers, including Honda and Toyota, both of whom have been building hybrid vehicles for more than a decade, have programs established to recycle old batteries.

Reuse: Electric vehicle batteries have longer lives than those in PCs or cell phones. In some cases up to 70 percent capacity remaining after 10 years of use in an automotive application. This longevity allows them to be used for smart-grid community energy management systems or battery energy storage.

Repurpose: Nissan operates under the “4R” business model to reuse, resell, re-fabricate and recycle lithium-ion batteries. This allows them to repurpose the battery as energy storage systems with an estimated battery storage capacity of 50 kWh (enough energy to power 15 homes for 2 hours).

electric car charge

Hopefully these options will in fact be implemented. This makes driving an electric car an even more conscionable choice.