The federal government’s successful incentive program for zero-emissions vehicle purchases is running out of money and not slated for renewal, much to the dismay of environmental and industry groups.
Yes this was my understanding. I could see some DIY people making it work but I doubt we would see a massive scale industry around re using the motors. The amount of work and refurbishment coupled with relatively low power productions would make it hard to keep economically viable i think. People would worry the used motors would wear out prematurely when investing in their own power supply. Unlike something like solar, the motor needs rotational force, where as solar almost always makes at least some energy in the day even if cloudy.
As I alluded to in a comment just a moment ago, there’s actually a really vibrant community/cottage industry world wide taking the motor and the internal drum from old washing machines and turning them into hydroelectric plants, capable of powering off grid homes quite effectively for as much of the year as the water is flowing in the area.
I could absolutely see what OP was theorising happening with only a little bit of government support. The motors and batteries could easily be sold on as part of a kit, and the rest of the car recycled where possible.
Used EV cells are already starting to find use in industry. In Japan, Nissan resells pairs of used Leaf batteries that pass their testing inside an inverter pack that can provide emergency power or as a generator replacement. On top of that, they have repurposed 16 Leaf EV batteries to provide backup for and smooth out fluctuations from a solar power array in Japan. And Canada’s own Moment Energy specializes in building grid-scale storage from used EV batteries.
Work in this area is admittedly low right now — but mostly because in the 15 years since the first readily available commercial EVs started shipping, the vast bulk of them are still on the road today. So EV battery supply is pretty low right now (I’d imagine mostly being from EVs that have been in accidents which haven’t affected the battery itself). But with EV adoption increasing that supply will also increase, albeit with a 15 - 20 year lag.
And the motors don’t really ever wear out. I have no doubt some company out there will start using them for small-ish wind turbines once a reliable second hand supply is available. I agree for now that’s most likely to be in the domain of hobbies to, but if it becomes easy to source hundreds of EV motors cheaply that I don’t see why they wouldn’t be used to create small, and relatively inexpensive power stations for remote communities.
The possibilities are pretty huge here. On top of that, once these second-life uses for EV batteries and motors have finally exhausted their usefulness, they’re 95+% recyclable into new battery packs and motors, allowing the cycle to begin anew. It’s pretty exciting stuff — which is why I’m hopeful long term that the Canadian governments investments into both mineral mining and battery production pay off — EVs are just the tip of that iceberg.
Yes this was my understanding. I could see some DIY people making it work but I doubt we would see a massive scale industry around re using the motors. The amount of work and refurbishment coupled with relatively low power productions would make it hard to keep economically viable i think. People would worry the used motors would wear out prematurely when investing in their own power supply. Unlike something like solar, the motor needs rotational force, where as solar almost always makes at least some energy in the day even if cloudy.
As I alluded to in a comment just a moment ago, there’s actually a really vibrant community/cottage industry world wide taking the motor and the internal drum from old washing machines and turning them into hydroelectric plants, capable of powering off grid homes quite effectively for as much of the year as the water is flowing in the area.
I could absolutely see what OP was theorising happening with only a little bit of government support. The motors and batteries could easily be sold on as part of a kit, and the rest of the car recycled where possible.
Used EV cells are already starting to find use in industry. In Japan, Nissan resells pairs of used Leaf batteries that pass their testing inside an inverter pack that can provide emergency power or as a generator replacement. On top of that, they have repurposed 16 Leaf EV batteries to provide backup for and smooth out fluctuations from a solar power array in Japan. And Canada’s own Moment Energy specializes in building grid-scale storage from used EV batteries.
(Here’s an example of a Canadian company that resells used EV batteries and motors for use in DIY projects).
Work in this area is admittedly low right now — but mostly because in the 15 years since the first readily available commercial EVs started shipping, the vast bulk of them are still on the road today. So EV battery supply is pretty low right now (I’d imagine mostly being from EVs that have been in accidents which haven’t affected the battery itself). But with EV adoption increasing that supply will also increase, albeit with a 15 - 20 year lag.
And the motors don’t really ever wear out. I have no doubt some company out there will start using them for small-ish wind turbines once a reliable second hand supply is available. I agree for now that’s most likely to be in the domain of hobbies to, but if it becomes easy to source hundreds of EV motors cheaply that I don’t see why they wouldn’t be used to create small, and relatively inexpensive power stations for remote communities.
The possibilities are pretty huge here. On top of that, once these second-life uses for EV batteries and motors have finally exhausted their usefulness, they’re 95+% recyclable into new battery packs and motors, allowing the cycle to begin anew. It’s pretty exciting stuff — which is why I’m hopeful long term that the Canadian governments investments into both mineral mining and battery production pay off — EVs are just the tip of that iceberg.