The American regulator fears that electric vehicle batteries on ships may catch fire during transportation.
In the US, pressure is growing on government institutions to ban the export of damaged electric vehicles abroad.. Regulators are concerned about the safety of their transportation and disposal.
In particular, the government hopes to better track batteries that remain in damaged cars through transport channels.. After all, there have already been cases of fires during the transportation of such cars, caused by the combustion of batteries in them.
Another reason for a possible ban is to avoid exporting e-waste to countries that do not have the means to recycle or repurpose it.. American officials want to keep the valuable minerals contained in batteries in their country.
Battery recycling startups in Western Europe and the US have received huge amounts of private and public investment to help strengthen supply chains for raw materials from old or used batteries. But so far they only have a small portion of the batteries in the form of used batteries.
Tesla electric car battery
So far, the existing industry of insurance companies and auctions plays into the hands of Ukrainians who bring damaged electric cars to Ukraine. In particular, electric cars are more likely to be written off after accidents than cars with internal combustion engines; electric cars can be considered beyond repair, even after minor accidents.. A Reuters analysis this year found that «the majority» of damaged electric vehicles sold for scrap were nearly new, low-mileage vehicles.
The main reason why repairing electric vehicles is so difficult is that there are no special regulations for handling electric vehicle batteries after an accident.. There is no industry standard worldwide for measuring battery health.
Vehicle manufacturers sometimes refuse to authorize battery repairs due to liability concerns.. Nobody knows what will happen to the repaired battery in two, three years and another 50,000 km. It’s easier to let almost new vehicles be written off than to have to deal with lawsuits and lawsuits later.
Of course, there are businesses in the US that make money by dismantling cars to extract valuable parts for resale.. But dismantling the battery requires special workers, equipment and, most importantly, space due to the fire hazard of storing lithium-ion cells. Many autoshorts don't have this.
Additionally, electric vehicles tend to have simple powertrains with a lot of plastic and large prefabricated body components that are not easy to disassemble. Some electric vehicles have the battery built directly into the vehicle's structure, making it particularly difficult to disassemble.