Banning vapes could help manage EV battery parts supplies, say UK engineers

Chemical engineers are suggesting a ban on single-use vapes could help prolong the supplies of critical materials needed for electric car batteries.

In a super nerdy (albeit extremely necessary) report from the Royal Academy of Engineering, the boffins highlight the government’s approach has been to find more of the stuff that powers our devices, and that strategy means we’re going to be falling short of the volumes needed for the future of transportation and meeting net zero carbon targets.

It’s true that there’s a finite amount of rare and critical minerals, such as lithium, magnesium and neodynium (to name but a few… there’s actually about 18 materials designated critical) globally. But the chemical engineers reckon its not just about issuing licences to parts of Wales and Cornwall to unlock domestic stores of these valuable commodities.

A more holistic approach would be to recommit to a ban on the production of single-use vapes, and getting the car industry to make EV batteries smaller, according to the engineers.

Professor Joan Cordiner, chair of the National Engineering Policy Centre Working Group on Materials and Net Zero, said: “The way we extract and consume materials is unsustainable and we must address it urgently. Our report highlights the rising demand for critical materials, driven in part by their use in batteries, power systems and electronics. We are not the only country that will be competing for these finite minerals and we are calling on the new Government to develop a materials strategy that addresses demand and reuse of critical materials.

“For example, if we reduced the size of the UK’s larger electric vehicle batteries by 30 per cent we could cut our lithium demand by 17 per cent and save 75 million tonnes of rock mined for lithium by 2040 – that’s the equivalent of 19 Wembley Stadiums full of rock.”

That is a lot of rock – waaaay more than Blackpool’s ever sold. The report also emphasises a need to look at ‘end-of-life’ processes for disposing of electronic waste and bigger devices like old wind turbines. It reckons the car industry could also look into stripping them to recycle their parts.

It’s not like the auto industry is sitting on its laurels, mind. Carmakers have been working to make their batteries as small as they can get away with to lighten the kerb weights, and almost all of them have spoken to us about their plans to contribute to circular economy principles when it comes to battery recycling. In the interests of rock though, do you think we’re reaching a point where it needs legislating on?