The horror of planned obsolescence and hyper-consumption is leading us to discard millions of tons of materials that could be recovered without much trouble. Eric Lundgren, founder and CEO of IT Asset Partners, decided to demonstrate this in a very particular way: creating an electric car from recycled parts that can beat a Tesla Model S in range while costing a tenth of its price.
If you're about to replace your laptop battery and plan to throw the old unit away, don't maybe only one cell gave out, and the rest still works fine. Why sacrifice 85 percent of the battery when the fault is localized in the remaining 15 percent? Batteries are just one example among many. Every day I see youtubers rescuing televisions and audio equipment with repairs that require two or three dollars in components. Reusing is a very positive aspect, but we don't do it with enough dedication, and landfills are growing larger. The interesting thing is that it's not something exclusive to computers or mobile devices. It also extends to much more complex things like electric cars. How far can such a vehicle be recycled? The Phoenix project gives us the answer:
Eric Lundgren, founder and CEO of IT Asset Partners, took a BMW 528i from the E39 generation (1997 model), removed its entire internal combustion system (the engine was blown), and converted it to electric using batteries recovered from laptops and other packs discarded by manufacturers. When he finished combining the cells (80 percent of them were in perfect condition), his custom pack reached a capacity of 130 kilowatts. Then he removed several elements inside the car to reduce its weight (dashboard, rear seats, etc.), and 35 days later, the Phoenix faced three of the most popular electric cars: Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Bolt, and Tesla Model S P90D.
In its first test, the Phoenix was stopped by a blown fuse after traveling 547 kilometers, with 32 percent charge remaining. That was more than enough to beat the range of all three cars, but in the second test it had a head-to-head with the Model S P100D, which it beat by more than a hundred kilometers (614.7 vs 506.9). With a final cost of $12,900, the Phoenix doesn't seek to compete, but to demonstrate that a different model of manufacturing and consumption is possible. Lundgren uses the term "hybrid recycling". 88 percent of the Phoenix was recovered. Imagine what we are wasting.
