The chemicals in lithium-ion batteries are 85% reusable so far, with current recycling methods (lithium is lost, but are surface pond mined... hard metals are 100% reusable over and over again).
The 500t claim doesn't acknowledge that other non-battery minerals are also extracted during the process as well, also refined and sold, like copper, iron, nickle, carbon, zinc, aluminum, magnesium, lead, etc. Minerals don't exist individually, they exist together in ore streams.
Once the battery is created, you can charge it for 10-15 years using solar panels, no longer excerting energy to generate driveable distance.
Oil rigs and oil refining is also an energy intensive and dirty process. To build and deliver an oil rig on location, drill hundreds of feet into the ocean, transport workers and oil back and forth, etc for 10-15 comparable years of gas needed to fuel your gasoline vehicle to a comparable mileage.
Once extracted, oil must be refined (energy intensive and dirty), and energy is spent on ships and trucks to deliver that gasoline to your nearest gas station every single week for the next 10-15 years, so that you have access to gasoline always available.
Once the battery is recycled and put into a new vehicle, you don't need to move another 500 tons of earth, while a gas vehicle requires another 10-15 years of oil mining and delivery.
500t is not a lot of dirt. Mining haul trucks can carry 350t to 400t. So you're talking about 1.5 loads per battery pack, and those loads include non-battery pack minerals.
The chemicals in lithium-ion batteries are 85% reusable so far, with current recycling methods (lithium is lost, but are surface pond mined... hard metals are 100% reusable over and over again).
The 500t claim doesn't acknowledge that other non-battery minerals are also extracted during the process as well, also refined and sold, like copper, iron, nickle, carbon, zinc, aluminum, magnesium, lead, etc. Minerals don't exist individually, they exist together in ore streams.
Once the battery is created, you can charge it for 10-15 years using solar panels, no longer excerting energy to generate driveable distance.
Oil rigs and oil refining is also an energy intensive and dirty process. To build and deliver an oil rig on location, drill hundreds of feet into the ocean, transport workers and oil back and forth, etc for 10-15 comparable years of gas needed to fuel your gasoline vehicle to a comparable mileage.
Once extracted, oil must be refined (energy intensive and dirty), and energy is spent on ships and trucks to deliver that gasoline to your nearest gas station every single week for the next 10-15 years, so that you have access to gasoline always available.
Once the battery is recycled and put into a new vehicle, you don't need to move another 500 tons of earth, while a gas vehicle requires another 10-15 years of oil mining and delivery.
500t is not a lot of dirt. Mining haul trucks can carry 350t to 400t. So you're talking about 1.5 loads per battery pack, and those loads include non-battery pack minerals.
What do you mean, throwing out AA batteries?