COBALT IN EV BATTERIES? The Story of Cobalt & its importance to Batteries & Electric Cars

In this new episode Helen looks into the history of Cobalt in EV batteries and what the future may hold.

Cobalt has hit the headlines in recent years in relation to it’s role in batteries and reports of controversial mining, but how much do you really know about it? It’s been with us for thousands of years but as the world becomes more electrified our interest in this chemical element has grown.

Cobalt plays a key part in Lithium-Ion batteries which can be found in pretty much anything electrical we use from hearing aids to electric cars. But at what cost? With recycling challenges and work needed to ensure mining of cobalt is ethical, do we really need it? Could future batteries be cobalt free?

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction
1:24 Supernova creation
2:17 What is cobalt?
4:00 What does it look like?
5:36 Cobalt & batteries
7:48 Sourcing cobalt
9:25 Cobalt mining
10:49 Ethical concerns
11:46 Model mines
12:17 Recycling challenges
14:52 Energy costs
16:08 Design importance
17:09 Do we need it?
18:37 Cobalt free batteries
19:28 The story continues…
20:02 Subscribe, support, join

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