Researchers in the US have developed a method that can turn used EV batteries into fertilisers. The method uses a well-established ion-exchange process to recover lithium from the LFP materials by replacing it with potassium. The remaining elements include phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen, which are key ingredients in fertilisers.

Conventional disposal of these batteries requires special handling that is costly. So is recovering material from lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which offers little value beyond lithium.