Why would anyone want to discard these batteries with precious minerals?
1. Their lifetime is measured in decades (first in EVs and then in grid-storage) as compared to single-use for gas.
2. They (at least the various types of Li-Ion cells) are 100% recyclable. Battery production will probably switch to "urban mining" once enough has been manufactured to supply the global fleet.
Tesla recently mentioned during their battery day presentation that they plan to do exactly this. Re-manufacturing batteries will be far cheaper than mining fresh raw materials once enough EoL batteries are available.
Thanks for the explanation.
All EV batteries are 100% recyclable and this company was founded by the original CTO of Tesla to do just that.