For those wondering about Tesla’s 4680 structural battery pack—which is posing to be very difficult to open by third parties—yes, it can be recycled.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed the company’s 4680 structural battery pack found in the Texas-made Model Y, can indeed be recycled.
“No problem to recycle the 4680 pack. Just think of any battery pack as super high grade ore – it is always better to start with high grade ore than low grade!,” said Musk, in a reply to Alex (@ajtourville).
Alex was citing how he believed followers were incorrect in their assumptions the 4680 pack was not recyclable. That’s when Musk chimed in.
According to Tesla’s battery recycling page, the company says, “unlike fossil fuels, which release harmful emissions into the atmosphere that are not recovered for reuse, materials in a
Tesla lithium-ion battery are recoverable and recyclable. Battery materials are refined and put into a cell, and will still remain in the cell at the end of their life, when they can be recycled to recover its valuable materials for reuse over and over again.”
“Extending the life of a battery pack is a superior option to recycling for both environmental and business reasons. For those reasons, before decommissioning a consumer battery pack and sending it for recycling, Tesla does everything it can to extend the useful life of each battery pack. Any battery that is no longer meeting a customer’s needs can be serviced by Tesla at one of our service centers around the world. None of our scrapped lithium-ion batteries go to landfilling, and 100% are recycled,” says the company.
“Lithium-ion battery packs should only be handled by qualified professionals at specifically designated facilities. The applicable rules and regulations for battery management vary by region and must always be followed,” said the electric automaker.
For now, Tesla’s 4680 structural battery pack is only being used at the company’s Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, for the Model y.
