Current Status of Environmental, Health, and Safety Issues of Lithium Polymer Electric Vehicle Batteries

This report examines the potential environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) issues associated with using solid lithium polymer (SPE) batteries as an energy source for electric vehicles. It is anticipated that SPE batteries will be safer than lithium batteries without SPEs because SPEs could eliminate some of the problems encountered in organic liquid electrolyte designs, such as a reaction withthe lithium negative electrode, gas venting, and the need for sophisticated seals to contain liquids. The study assesses five issues: cell and battery safety, toxicity of lithium SPE battery materials, workplace health and safety, recycling and reclamation, and shipping of SPE batteries. In general, findings indicated that SPE cells and batteries could be designed so that they present few EH&Srisks.