In any case, EV batteries are already being recycled at pretty high rates.
> Nobody I know wants to do the same for electric vehicles, they are simply too dangerous.
Their loss. Not everybody is that nervous around some simple electronics. Most scrap yard dealers will train up in a hurry as soon as they realize that they have access to a valuable stream of batteries to pass on to re-cyclers who pay good dollars by the kilo. Most clued in owners will actually insist on getting compensated before handing over the valuable wrecked car with batteries included. Worth more than many still functioning old ICE cars.
> I've worked on fossil fuel vehicle EOL for quite a while and a very large amount of recycling happens
If that's the case for relatively worthless things like steel and lead from lead acid batteries, what do you think will happen when scrap yards start processing lithium ion batteries with a way higher kilo price? The obvious of course.
Okay? But there are PLENTY of people who are willing to. There are already relatively large EV battery recycling operations up and running. There are already businesses repurposing old EV battery packs for stationary energy storage.
EVs aren't THAT dangerous. You should have safety training to handle their batteries. But relevant safety training is something you need for almost all jobs that are even moderately complex these days. This kind of training is completely routine for all car mechanics in Norway now since 90% of new cars are EVs. I don't see any reason to think car mechanics in other countries are somehow less able to learn these things.
There's no data to indicate that EVs are more dangerous than ICE. There's some risks that are eliminated (gasoline fuel fires, carbon monoxide poisoning) and some new risks (high battery voltage, battery fire). But all-in-all there is no data pointing to more deaths after the share of EVs in Norway hit 90% of car sales (and reaching 20-30% of cars on the road in many areas).
These businesses are nascent, with unproven scale and business models. They might work. We want them to work. But we are a long way from saying "this is happening".
At least big (EV vehicle) batteries have a bigger value.
Around Europe I'm seeying a bunch of companies testing and selling second hand EV car battery packs that are at 60 to 85% of their capacity. Some can be used to repair a car, some other for projects that aren't that concerned by the energy density per kg of the batteries (stationary deployments, for example at home). And they're real cheap.
Older lead acid batteries can be fully recycled, GM and Ford used those in their older EVs
There are plans on re-purposing these for grid storage or used-new packs for vehicles, or recycling them to make new batteries. Sadly Google is polluted with weird SEO blogs and other crap, so here's at least one report from a credible source [1].
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/29/heres-how-ev-batteries-can-b...
No offense but this is just wrong
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/dead-e...