Tesla Birth Watch 38: PR Assault on Battery Recyling
In the latest installment of Tesla Motor's Mythbusters, the erstwhile EV maker's Director of Energy Storage Technologies says that Tesla's lithium-ion batteries are eco-friendly. That's because they're "manufactured in Japan, a country with very strict environmental laws." Kelty then lists all the nasty stuff their battery pack doesn't contain (leaving out dead kittens and powdered rhinoceros horn). In short, Tesla's Li-ion cells contain no toxic materials and "by law, could be disposed of by putting them in a landfill." Before that, Kelty recommends using the efficiency-challenged batteries "as a power source for off-grid backup or load leveling." Once the cells die, they'll be shipped off to Toxco's recycling plant in British Columbia. The copper cobalt will be sold for recovery, the slurry "sent off as non hazardous effluent for proper disposal" and the "fluff" (mostly plastic) "trucked back to the U.S. border and properly disposed" (in landfills). Kelty proudly points out that Tesla's disposal process "does not involve any smelters." He doesn't say how much smelting is needed to produce the battery pack but hey, we appreciate the info.
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Tony-e30: I prefer mine with some fava beans and a nice chianti.
March 18th is the day Telsa holds its first"oh s**t" production meeting, and realizes someone overlooked something real big, or something doesnt fit. March 19th the assembly line stops. March 19th at 4 pm Tesla issues a press release(requesting TTAC be left out of the loop) announcing production hit a snag and will resume in August...and the beat goes on.
Someone at TTAC should start a birth watch on the aptera. www.aptera.com It's gotten some publicity on yahoo news. They are promising over 200mpg, carbon composite body, all electric or hybrid powertrain, 85 mph and under $30K.