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How toxic are electric car batteries?

I want to buy an electric car, but I’m worried about the potential danger of the battery. How toxic are electric car batteries?

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Allison Stone · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
The lithium-ion batteries inside of
electric cars
are highly toxic, but that shouldn’t stop you from safely owning and driving one.
When it comes time to replace or dispose of the battery in your electric car, you will have to follow certain protocols in order to get rid of the battery safely.
Thankfully many batteries can actually be repurposed before being destroyed. They can be used as energy storage or power for other devices. If they can’t be repurposed, they are then recycled. To recycle an EV battery, the packs first have to be broken apart into their individual cells. The cells can then either be burned or dissolved in acid.
Recyclers then extract still-useful materials like cobalt and nickel to be repurposed and reused.
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