Vaping lithium
Understanding the linkage between vaping and lithium battery
Which is the most in-demand metal in today’s time? Its lithium without a doubt. Circa 2006, lithium was primarily used by the metal, glass, ceramics and similar industries. Whereas, lithium powered batteries were not a dominating category. That balance is now skewing in favour of lithium-ion/polymer batteries which power everything from electric toothbrushes to mobile phones to laptops and much more. This has accelerated further in the past few years (since 2016) with the rapid growth in EV adoption.
Obtaining lithium itself is fraught with complexities and generates high carbon emissions. As lithium does not occur as the metal in nature, but is found combined in small amounts in nearly all igneous rocks. Producing lithium-based batteries is another process altogether.
The entire transition to clean energy is dependent on lithium, as of today. Under the International Energy Agency’s most ambitious climate scenario, lithium supply will have to grow fortyfold by 2040 from today’s levels. It is no surprise that we are seeing EV manufacturers scrambling to secure lithium supplies as its the critical component of their product.
General Motors invested in a lithium extraction project in California, and BMW did the same in Argentina. Volkswagen signed a binding purchase agreement for lithium from a German mine. Tesla already owns the rights to a lithium claim deposit spread over 10,000 acres of Nevada.
Considering the rising demand and the efforts required to produce it, there is a conscious effort to salvage and recycle the lithium batteries once the device reaches its ‘end of life’ or is discarded. The infrastructure is in place and with initiatives such as ‘Right to Repair’, we are on track to turn the lifecycle of lithium more circular in nature — with a positive impact on the reduction of carbon emissions.
All this sounds promising, but there is a challenge owing to a tiny fast moving consumable device known as vapes or e-cigarettes.
Vaping over cigarettes
It is a known fact that smoking remains the leading preventable cause of premature death in many parts of the world. Globally, several tobacco control researchers have concluded that vapes/e-cigarettes are at least 95% less hazardous than tobacco cigarettes. In late 2021, the Department of Health and Social Care, UK proposed that e-cigarettes could be prescribed on the NHS in England to help people stop smoking tobacco products.
Vaping devices are compact by design and use batteries to heat (aerosolise) the liquid (includes nicotine) for users to inhale.
Theses studies and initiatives coincide with the increased adoption of vaping devices across the globe, especially amongst the younger generation (Gen Z). Vaping has overtaken tobacco cigarettes which have dominated the markets for more than half a century.
It is a good thing that young people are moving away from tobacco cigarettes but they are moving towards a more discrete and addictive product. This not only has a an impact on the health in the long run but also has an impact on the environment, and this is the moot point of this article.
Disclaimer: Please note, I am not recommending vaping. Research so far suggests that vaping devices might be less harmful than combustible (tobacco) cigarettes when people who regularly smoke switch to them as a complete replacement. But the fact remains that nicotine in any form is a highly addictive drug.
The rise of disposable vapes
A lot of the vaping devices are designed to be disposable in nature, which means they are discarded once the liquid runs out. The challenge is that these devices are powered by reusable/rechargeable lithium batteries. It is estimated that the batteries could be recharged at least 300 times if the vapes had a charging port.
“Vapes are the fast fashion of e-cigarettes” - Ben Johnson, CEO, Riot Labs, a disposable vape manufacturer
Disposable vapes have overtaken pod-based systems that have reusability at its core and lasts much longer. Interestingly, disposable vapes came to life when some of the pod-based devices were banned by the US government owing to adverse health impacts. And there has been no looking back since then.
As per one estimate, 5 disposable vapes are being thrown away every second by young people in the US and 2 disposable vapes in the UK. This demonstrates the level of addiction and how accessible it is for anyone and everyone. Its rapid adoption is creating a huge problem for the battery supplies and has got policymakers and the industry worried about its impact on the lithium supplies.
According to Financial Times estimates, more than 90 tonnes of lithium were used in the production of the $5bn worth of single-use vapes sold globally last year,. That’s enough to supply more than 11,000 electric vehicle batteries. They also contained roughly 1,160 tonnes of copper, enough for 1.6mn home electric vehicle chargers.
In isolation, the lithium used is minuscule and the impact doesn’t get registered at the stage of manufacturing. The impact only became visible with the rising adoption of disposable vaping devices in an environment where supply chain of lithium remains erratic.
Will lithium be recycled? Highly unlikely, as most disposable vapes end up in a landfill. Countries do have the necessary infrastructure but the recycling networks are not efficient to deal with this kind of scenario. Recycling vapes is a very labour intensive process as they have to be dismantled by hand because of the inflammable batteries.
If you zoom out, vapes are just one of the many small electrical devices that are causing growing environmental concerns as e-waste collection sites are not set up to handle them. Sorting, segregation, retrieval and disposal remain a key hurdle when it comes to scaling of e-waste management operations.
To sum up, new innovations help bring a positive change but it has consequences as well. It is critical to think hard and long of its impact on health, environment and society at large.
What are your thoughts on this? Would love to hear them.
Until next time!
~ Sajid
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Sajid is a Strategy Consultant who works at the intersection of human behaviour, business design and innovation strategy. He blogs at sknotes and tweets @sajidkhetani.
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