Inside a converted factory on the edge of town, a conveyor feeds shredded battery cells into a bath of liquid that looks like weak tea. An hour later, what comes out is cobalt, nickel and lithium: ready to be made into new batteries.
Recyclers say the process recovers more than 95 percent of the valuable metals, at a lower carbon cost than mining. The plant is one of a dozen to open in the past two years, and demand is rising as the first generation of electric vehicles reaches the end of its life.
The challenge now is logistics. Batteries are heavy, hazardous and scattered across millions of cars. “We have solved the chemistry,” said one plant manager. “Now we have to solve the truck.”
