Battery size

As it stands, the general trend is leaning towards larger Li-ion batteries with longer ranges which are unnecessarily high according to Peter Mock, managing director for Europe at the International Council on Clean Transportation.

‘‘For 90 per cent of the vehicles it just doesn’t make sense to have such a big battery’’, said Mr Mock.

The batteries within electric cars have been estimated as doubling from 20kwh to 40kwh by 2025 as predicted by UK investment bank and research service, Liberum.

Bigger batteries will increase the landfill issue as well as requiring greater levels of cooling to prevent such batteries from over-heating. Such processes prevent the batteries from igniting as they contain flammable liquid electrolytes.

For some, the size of the batteries means even landfilling is not a solution.