Is battery cell replacement more sustainable than recycling?

There’s a pressing need for reusable electric vehicle (EV) battery options. The International Energy Agency (IEA) states that global lithium demand exceeded supply in 2021 and 2022 despite a 180% increase in production since 2017. In 2022, 60% of lithium, 30% of cobalt and 10% of nickel demand was solely for EV batteries—up from 15%, 10% and 2%, respectively from 2017. According to a January 2023 CNBC article, EV battery manufacturing capacity in North America will need to increase from 90 GWh per year in 2022 to almost 1,000 GWh per year by 2030.