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What precious metals are used in electric cars?
I thought that car batteries were made out of lead, which isn’t very expensive from what I understand. Why do electric cars need to use precious metals in their components, and what types are used?
Jason Crosby · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
Electric car batteries aren’t made from the same metals as gas-powered vehicles, typically speaking. The precious metals used in electric car batteries can differ depending on the vehicle, but generally there are a handful of precious metals that are used in production. These include the following:
- Silver. Silver is used in electrical components ranging from the navigation system to battery parts. This is because silver is an excellent conductor of electricity. It also has a very high acid corrosion resistance, meaning that it’s one of the few substances uniquely apt to be used in many different parts of an electric car.
- Cobalt. Cobalt isn’t considered rare, but due to geopolitical reasons and mining expenses, it’s expensive to process and purify. Cobalt, when used in electric car batteries, allows for efficient recharging. Cobalt batteries are alsofully recyclable, which is a plus.
- Gold. Gold is primarily used in circuit boards because, like silver, it is an extremely efficient electric conductor. It’s used in limited quantities, though, and much less than other precious metals, largely due to price and the small size of most circuit boards.
- Lithium. Like cobalt, Lithium isn’t particularly rare—but it’s expensive to mine, process, and transport. Lithium is used in rechargeable batteries because of the efficiency of lithium ions; these ions allow for battery components to transfer energy in the form of electricity between the battery’s cells more efficiently than many other metals can. Lithium batteries are also fully recyclable.
These metals may be precious, but at
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