Fact: According to the U.S. Department of Energy, between 2016 and 2019, about 90% of the lithium imported to the U.S. came from Argentina and Chile, while cobalt, graphite and nickel arrived from a more diverse array of countries, including Canada, Norway, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mexico. Lithium and nickel had a net import reliance of approximately 50%, while 76% of cobalt and 100% of graphite were imported.
With that overseas reliance in mind, a push is being made to have more domestic production and assembly of batteries (13 U.S. battery gigafactories are planned to be online by 2025), including securing domestic raw materials or reducing the need for materials that can’t be locally sourced. The batteries in EVs are not typically destined for a landfill. After their long lives in an EV, there are a couple of options.
The first and currently most common use for end-of-life EV batteries is to repurpose and reuse them. Most commonly, EV batteries are being reused for utility-scale energy storage since they typically have 75% or more of their capacity remaining. Current-day EV batteries are primarily lithium-based, which is an easily recyclable material. The current design of EV batteries are not typically well-designed for recycling, but vast investments have been made towards improving battery design and recycling technology. Expanded U.S. recycling practices should also reduce our dependence on imports.