Should High-Cobalt EV Batteries be Repurposed? Using LCA to Assess the Impact of Technological Innovation on the Waste Hierarchy

This research assesses whether technological innovations change the currently understood waste hierarchy, which prioritizes reuse or repurposing prior to recycling. This is of interest because retired high-cobalt batteries could supply their constituent materials sooner if recycled immediately and be used in low-cobalt, higher-performing batteries.