Batteries can have a second life as static energy storage after being used in an electric vehicle and can be recycled at the end of their lifespan. However, this isn’t always happening. The European Commission is considering setting targets for recycled content in new battery packs, warning that lithium – which is cheaper to produce from new than to recover from end-of-life batteries – is too often wasted.
Battery manufacturers are already preparing for an influx of recyclable materials as larger numbers of electric vehicles reach the end of their life. Northvolt, which will soon supply BMW and Volkswagen Group, will open a full-scale recycling facility in 2022. By 2030, Northvolt is targeting a 50% share of recycled content in new cells.
Absolutely. National Grid ESO says peak demand was at its highest in 2002, and it has fallen 16% since as appliances become more efficient and homes and businesses add solar panels. With smarter charge points enabling sessions to be scheduled to avoid demand spikes, and energy to be returned to the grid, it’s only projecting a 10% rise in peak demand once everyone switches to electric vehicles. That’s still lower than in 2002.
All new electric vehicle charge points, installed at home and in the workplace from May 2022, will be pre-programmed to switch off during peak hours to ease pressure on the National Grid. A ‘randomised delay’ of up to 30 minutes when there is high demand from motorists, will also be introduced as more company car drivers switch to EVs.
New chargers will not operate from 8am to 11am and 4pm to 10pm, but owners and fleets will be able to override the pre-set times to take account of night workers and people who have different schedules. Public chargers and rapid chargers, on motorways and A-roads, will be exempt.
Electric vehicles do require more energy to build than their combustion engine counterparts. But that’s only half of the story. According to a recent Volkswagen Group study, manufacturing the ID.3 electric hatchback (including processing raw materials) produces almost twice as much CO2 as the equivalent petrol or diesel Golf. However, it adds that, even without factoring in the carbon-neutral factory where the ID.3 is built, life cycle CO2 emissions comfortably undercut both versions of the Golf.
This isn’t an unusual scenario. New research suggests whole-life CO2 emissions for an electric car are lower than a petrol equivalent in almost every country across the world. Meanwhile, vehicle manufacturers are shifting factories to renewable energy, creating local supply chains to avoid long-distance shipping and CO2 emissions for electricity production are falling too. The average carbon intensity of the UK grid was two thirds lower in 2020 than in 2013, and the ambition is net zero emissions by 2025. All these steps help to extend the environmental benefits compared to a petrol or diesel car.
