Similar concepts such as food labelling might not have delivered full transparency on product origins to consumers so far. LiBs today can be buried ‘somewhere in a desert’, with future generations drinking water drawn from ground contaminated with heavy metals – somewhat countering the hard work and innovation going into developing greener energy and transport methods in the first place, he points out. Then once you produce, you don’t know where it’s flowing, or how safe it is you don’t know how many charge discharge cycles you’ve had or second-life applications.” “Today, it’s like the wild West people are exploited in the process. Today’s thousands of battery manufacturers mostly have little notion of where their materials came from or how they have been extracted, Doron says.Ī passport system could reduce global corruption and bribery, child labour and environmental destruction, even as demand for LiBs soars, he notes. “What we’ve been doing so far, especially when it comes to recycling and the environment, has not been very productive, successful or efficient from the standpoint of the planet and goals of zero emissions.”īIGPs may even blaze a trail for thinking about the environment that benefits next generations. “The global community needs to start thinking differently about the future,” Doron says. “If we can actually implement a system like that, passed on to the entire battery ecosystem from the raw materials to the battery recycling, with that traceability, it will be a very big thing for the planet and for the industry as a whole,” Doron confirms. ORNL’s research review concludes that, for example, a scannable QR code or smart RFID tag could help identify and track materials, including cobalt and lithium itself – also reducing extraction of rare-earth minerals while assisting transport decarbonisation in the move to electric vehicles (EVs).ĭr Doron Myersdorf, Chief Executive of EV technology developer StoreDot, confirms BIGPs could be useful, although the concept is not without its difficulties – especially around global regulation and cooperation. “Less strain on mining and refining, battery manufacturers can secure materials feedstocks, recyclers will have less impact on the environment, and the public will see battery cost reduction.” “Everyone involved in the battery value chain will benefit,” Ilias says. Ilias Belharouak, Section Head for Electrification at US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), suggests a type of battery identity global passport (BIGP) could help close the LiB waste loop from manufacturing cradle to recycling gate. While track-and-trace systems for Covid-19 have met with mixed results in many countries, applying a similar idea to lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) could help meet soaring demand in the automotive industry. Would manufacturers benefit from comprehensive digital tagging and identification of lithium-ion batteries? Fleur Doidge reports.
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