💰🌗🔋EV batteries account for about half an EV's cost and are often unrepairable when damaged. Insurance companies have adopted the practice of writing off whole EVs and sending them to scrap yards if the battery pack receives even slight damage.
♻️🗑️👩🔧Well, that doesn't sound sustainable. Good observation! That is because it isn't. While recycling programs are in place, and some OEMs (Ford and GM) are working to make it easier to repair or replace batteries, other OEMs (Tesla) use a structural battery pack that, according to experts, has zero repairability once damaged.
🧾🚗📞Anybody got a plan? Well, the plan of the insurance companies seems to be passing along the costs in the form of high premiums, then proceeding to dump the recyclable materials in the battery to the scrapyard. On the other hand, recycling companies are on track to have excess capacity for years to come.