It’s time to get serious about recycling lithium-ion batteries

cen.acs.org

34 pointshoward9413 comments

It is very simple: the big corporation that made them, owns them. They have the scale and tech to do decent refurbishment and/or recycling. It is simply done and ~swapping batteries is much faster than charging them. Standards exist and are used for scooters.

~swap

https://electrek.co/2019/06/10/yamaha-ec-05-electric-scooter...

If you want what'll work, then it's time to get serious about biofuels and their storage.

The best buffered conversion of starlight into mechanical drive, that I know of (and by a long shot), is through combustion of high quality biodiesel, (ie via hemp, soy, or jatropha seeds pressed for extraction (also as blends).

In the future, we can even switch to the prime movers of photosynthesis, algae and cyanobacteria for even more dense bioreactors than the beautiful, wide open fields of life-giving plants.

Oil, as a mechano-electric energy storage, is very cost-effective, and storing it works:

* [Guidelines For Long Term Fuel Storage of Diesel and Storage Tanks](https://www.bellperformance.com/blog/bid/114020/guidelines-f...)

* [Diesel Storage & Fuel Treatments Effects|Gold Eagle Co](https://www.goldeagle.com/tips-tools/how-long-does-diesel-fu...)

* [Long-term storage of diesel](https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp-country/en_au/media/fuel-n...)

* [Storing Biodiesel Fuel |](http://www.springboardbiodiesel.com/storing-biodiesel-fuel)

* [Is My Stored Diesel Fuel Ready for an Emergency?](https://www.fueltechnologiesinternational.com/is-my-stored-d...)

* [Bio Kleen Diesel Fuel Biocide - Power Service](https://powerservice.com/psp_product/bio-kleen-diesel-fuel-b...)

* [Amazon.com: Power Service 09016-09 Bio Kleen Diesel Fuel Biocide - 16 oz.: Automotive](https://www.amazon.com/Power-Service-09016-09-Diesel-Biocide...)

* [How to Maintain Stored Diesel Fuel - Fuel - Government Fleet](https://www.government-fleet.com/157049/how-to-maintain-stor...)

* [How long can you store DIESEL fuel..?????](http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?149...)

* [PRI-D (diesel) shelf life? - Survivalist Forum](https://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=865841)

E-diesel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-diesel) would save us the hassle of using crops for fuel, assuming we can use a clean energy source to produce it.

But yes; batteries are nice and it's good that we spend resources developing new and better ones, and that we recycle the old ones for materials, but we have a large fossil-fuel-based infrastructure in place, and replacing/upgrading it will take at least half a century.

We need something clean to keep that going in the mean time.

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