I believe this whole new sustainable financial system as we’re envisioning it, with every little thing electrified, merely can’t work until you’ve got a closed loop for the uncooked supplies. There aren’t sufficient new uncooked supplies to maintain constructing and throwing them away; it might basically be inconceivable. 

Battery recycling is an intuitive answer to these two points, however inform me extra in regards to the technical problem of pulling it off, and the way it might work.

It’s extra sophisticated than I believe many individuals respect. There’s only a entire ton of chemistry, chemical engineering, and manufacturing engineering that has to occur to make and refine all the elements that go right into a battery. It’s not only a sorting or rubbish administration drawback. 

There’s a number of room for innovation, and these items haven’t been nicely optimized, and even achieved in any respect in some instances. In order that’s actually the enjoyable stuff as an engineer, the place you get to invent and innovate issues that haven’t been achieved two, three, 4 instances already.  

However one thing that isn’t intuitive is simply what a excessive stage of reusability the metals within a battery have. All of these supplies we put right into a battery and into an EV don’t go anyplace. They’re all nonetheless there. They don’t get degraded, they don’t get compromised—99% of these metals, or maybe extra, may be reused repeatedly and once more. Actually a whole lot, maybe hundreds of instances.

I don’t imagine we’re appropriately internalizing how unhealthy local weather change goes to be.

JB Straubel

There are usually not going to be a number of electrical autos coming off the roads for a very long time. How are you occupied with navigating that and going through shortages in your provide of used batteries? 

I actually see our place as a sustainable battery supplies firm. One among our key targets and targets is to take a look at the very long run and to ensure we’re architecting essentially the most environment friendly techniques for the long run, the place recycled materials content material is almost all of provide. 

However within the meantime, we’re taking a realistic view. We have now to mix in a certain quantity of virgin materials—no matter we are able to get in essentially the most environmentally pleasant manner—to reinforce the ramp-up whereas we have to transition away from fossil fuels.