Why? I would posit that lithium batteries do way more damage to the environment than lead-acid batteries. Recycling of lead-acid batteries is very prevalent because it is economically worth it.
Isn't that implied by the context? Lead is fantastically bad for human health and it's worth the cons to use Li batteries to avoid pulling lead out of the earth and into the chain of human contaminants
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My point is that lead for batteries is aggressively recycled while lithium is almost exclusively pulled from primary extraction and rarely recycled.
> Despite the smaller supply of lithium, a study earlier this year in the Journal of the Indian Institute of Science found that less than 1 percent of Lithium-ion batteries get recycled in the US and EU compared to 99 percent of lead-acid batteries, which are most often used in gas vehicles and power grids.
Whenever I buy a lead-acid battery, I always have a core charge and it is a non-trivial percentage of the total cost of the battery. I get that core charge back when I return the old battery.
That's a fine stance, of course. But you asked "why". The posters above are focused on human health as a concern, over the environmental impact you're focusing on. Just different perspective.
Why? I would posit that lithium batteries do way more damage to the environment than lead-acid batteries. Recycling of lead-acid batteries is very prevalent because it is economically worth it.