Opinion: Electric car batteries, we’re at a crossroads
Quebec’s plan to electrify transportation definitely has the wind in its sails.
But there’s a storm brewing on the horizon: once the first generations of electric cars are retired from our roads, what will be done with the massive amount of used batteries?
We’re talking about a major challenge here.
By 2030, Quebec will have to contend with an estimated 73,000 electric vehicle batteries that will have reached the end of their life.
Équiterre is working hard to ensure that Quebec’s electrification plans take into account the full value of electric car batteries to get the most use possible out of them and thereby limit the extraction of the strategic metals needed to manufacture new ones.
Over the coming months, the government will reveal how it plans to tackle this challenge, through a regulatory reform of the Extended Producer Responsibility principle - the EPR for short.
WHAT IS EPR
EPR is a way to hold businesses accountable for the goods they produce.
Among other things, it dictates how these goods must be managed once they reach the end of their life.
The concept isn’t new. We already have EPR regulations for electronics and paint cans, for example.
As for the responsibility for electric vehicle batteries, the Quebec government is currently drafting new rules to regulate the automobile industry to determine how these batteries will be managed in the coming years.
We are concerned about the pace of discussions surrounding this crucial component of transportation electrification in Quebec.
In our opinion, the consultation process was far too brief to result in adequate policy.
WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN COLD
The current EPR regulations are not strong enough to ensure that we squeeze as much life as possible out of these batteries.
Under the current plan, electric vehicle battery recovery is based on a ten-year lifespan.
Ten years is an arbitrary figure and there is a risk that batteries may be retired prematurely rather than doing all we can to extend their useful life.
Electric car batteries should not be removed from vehicles before it is absolutely necessary.
We’re also calling for new targets in the new EPR plan that encourage reuse.
Squeezing more life out of an object is the most effective way of shrinking its environmental footprint.
If there are no reuse targets baked into the plan, we won’t get the results we need.
We need mechanisms to encourage reuse.
Electronics are a good example of how poorly our systems encourage reuse.
According to the latest data, only 10 per cent of the electronics recovered under the EPR got a second life.
Once they can no longer power a car, electric vehicle batteries could live a second life elsewhere, before being recycled.
They can be used to store solar or wind energy, or to power smaller modes of transportation, such as boats.
Electric batteries are worth their weight in gold.
The risk of wasting these valuable resources is great, but the opportunity is greater still to get the most out of them without adversely impacting the climate and the environment.
The Legault government must seize this opportunity.
Signatories:
Amélie Côté, Analyst, Reduction at the source, Équiterre
Andréanne Brazeau, Analyst, Sustainable mobility, Équiterre
Valérie Tremblay, Intern, Sustainable mobility, Équiterre
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Ottawa has sold its stake in Air Canada: sources
Two senior federal government sources have confirmed to CTV News that the federal government has sold its stake in Air Canada.
'I recognize these footsteps': How Trump and 'coyote' smuggling changed life at the border
Bent signs bolted to the rail threaten fines and imprisonment should violators cross the boundary into the United States, a warning many people are choosing to ignore simply by walking around the barrier.
She took a DNA test for fun. Police used it to charge her grandmother with murder in a cold case
According to court documents, detectives reopened the cold case in 2017 and then worked with a forensics company to extract DNA from Baby Garnet's partial femur, before sending the results to Identifinders International.
Danielle Smith announces new team to patrol Alberta-U.S. border
Premier Danielle Smith says her government will create a team of specially-trained sheriffs tasked with patrolling the Alberta-U.S. border.
McDonald's employee who called 911 in CEO's shooting is eligible for reward, but it will take time
More than 400 tips were called into the New York Police Department's Crime Stoppers tip line during the five-day search for a masked gunman who ambushed and fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week.
Man who set fires inside Calgary's municipal building lost testicle during arrest: ASIRT
Two Calgary police officers have been cleared of any wrongdoing in an incident that saw a suspect lose a testicle after being shot with an anti-riot weapon.
Country star Morgan Wallen sentenced in chair-throwing case
Country music star Morgan Wallen on Thursday pleaded guilty to two misdemeanour counts of reckless endangerment for throwing a chair from the rooftop of a six-storey bar in Nashville and nearly hitting two police officers with it.
Doug Ford says cutting off U.S. energy supply amid tariff threats a 'last resort'
Premier Doug Ford says that cutting off the energy supply to the U.S. remains a “last resort” amid the threat of a promised 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods but he is warning that his government is ultimately prepared to use “every tool” in its toolbox “to protect the livelihoods of the people of Ontario.”
Ho ho, oh no: Man sought by police goes down chimney and gets stuck
A Massachusetts man trying to escape from police shimmied down the chimney. And got stuck.