Battery Recycling?

I think the batteries and the management systems are designed very well and should hopefully last the life of the car. For cases we are seeing now, e.g. batteries out of crashed cars, I think grid storage is a great opportunity to use the salvaged and reconditioned batteries. Once they've reached their end of life, then they should absolutely be recycled.

More here (grid usage is not mentioned): Tesla's Closed Loop Battery Recycling Program | Tesla Motors

I'm guessing very few battery packs will be reused for grid storage. Most consumers and businesses will only take used parts at a substantial discount. Also the Powerwall and larger commercial versions use different cell chemistry and likely larger cells than Model S.

Tesla has stated that the battery packs are designed to be used in stationary applications when the usable car life is over. After that they are 99% recyclable. My estate is 10-15 years in a car and 20 years in stationary before recycle.

Tesla 85 (and up) have a warranty that covers the battery and drive train till 2021, no mileage limit.
The battery on mine after two years and 60000 km is like-new, well over 400 km of "rated" range.


There are thousands of members here, some of whom have updated a global spreadsheet of battery information (car mileage, maximum charge range, replacements if any) and the graphs produced are insightful, showing very low degradation of the battery, and very small battery repairs. Tesla repairs by opening the pack, replacing specific parts and giving the same pack back.


The battery cells are good for thousands of full charge/discharge cycles till they hold 80%, at 400 km range, that is up to a million km!

And if you had read through the presentation of the battery gigafactory back when they were shopping it around to various states, you would see that it includes a facility for intake and recycling of the battery packs. That's probably not built in this initial first stage of the construction, though.

the Chinese are the technology leaders for li ion battery recycling, but that raises issues of exporting waste to other countries.
(The Chinese recycle nearly the entire cell, with a process that is capable of mixed li ion chemistries, they are 10-20 years ahead of the rest of the world.) BRUNP—Waste batteries cycling expert

but otherwise, Li ion recycling is best actioned by the original li ion cathode manufacturer, that also leads to all the profits going to that entity, its a cost otherwise. So its not a good business for normal recyclers.
As it stands, Tesla's pack will probably last the life of the car, so unless the car is totaled...
In China, the recyclers would pay Tesla for their packs, in USA/EU Tesla pays recyclers to take their packs.

unless the modules are damaged, its probably best to reuse them (instead of recycle) in some stationary application, similar to Nissan's 4R energy 会社案内 | è“„é›»æ±*ãªã‚‰ãƒ•ã‚©ãƒ¼ã‚¢ãƒ¼ãƒ«ã‚¨ãƒŠã‚¸ãƒ¼æ*ªå¼ä¼šç¤¾

I´m still hearing too little on this topic.
Official info dates back to 2011, since then only tidbits.
...

It´s absolutely relevant to keep this topic alive, and not pushing it back on our minds.

True, but but we are still several years away by from needing to recycle any significant number of batteries. I'd guess 5 to 10 more years. The model S batteries are holding up better than the roadster battteries.

Just read this article on Apple news from Jalopnik that might provide an answer to what Tesla might do with the batteries down the road (Redwood Materials):

http://jalopnik.com/tesla-might-have-a-solution-for-electric-vehicles-enorm-1794852353

Saying the battery will last the life time of the car is probably true, but the time still comes sooner or later.