Making the Most of Electric Vehicle Batteries

The Union of Concerned Scientists finds that implementing battery recycling, improving vehicle efficiency, right-sizing battery range, and increasing non-vehicle transportation options could reduce newly mined lithium demand in the US by 48% between 2025 and 2050. This reduction equals 1.5 million metric tons of lithium. The report argues that high recovery rates (90%) could allow recycled content to meet nearly 60% of lithium demand by 2050. Key recommendations include federal recycling requirements, efficiency standards, and expanded public charging infrastructure to reduce the need for oversized batteries.

• Implementing a combination of reduction strategies could decrease the demand for newly mined lithium for US passenger vehicles and transit buses by 48% from 2025 to 2050, which equates to 1.5 million metric tons or the lithium needed for 180 million typical EV batteries.
• Achieving a 90% lithium recovery rate through recycling, alongside other demand reduction strategies, could result in recycled materials meeting nearly 60% of the lithium demand by 2050.
• Specific technical and behavioral changes can further reduce lithium demand: improving energy efficiency could cut demand by 22% by 2050; limiting average vehicle range to 275 miles (supported by ubiquitous charging) could reduce demand by 20% by 2050; and increasing transportation alternatives to reduce vehicle miles traveled and cars per household could cut demand by 15% by 2050.
• Increasing the rate of energy density gains from 4% to 5% per doubling of sales is estimated to reduce total mineral demand by 11% by 2050.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2024). Making the Most of Electric Vehicle Batteries. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/making-most-ev-batteries-executive-summary.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Making the Most of Electric Vehicle Batteries. 2024. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/making-most-ev-batteries-executive-summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Making the Most of Electric Vehicle Batteries |date=December 2024 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/making-most-ev-batteries-executive-summary.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2024making, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Making the Most of Electric Vehicle Batteries}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2024}, month = dec, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/making-most-ev-batteries-executive-summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }