A group of college students believes they can reduce the impact electric vehicle batteries have on our planet.

Adrien Lee, Connor Pavlik, and Carlos Cardoza, all engineering students at Loyola University Maryland, won the school's Greyhound Pitch Competition for their efforts in developing a recyclable EV battery, Loyola News reports.

The students, who have formed a company named ACC Industries to work on their idea, have also progressed to the Hult Prize, which bills itself as "the world's largest student startup competition." The winner of the Hult Prize receives $1 million for their business.

"We aim to revolutionize electric vehicle batteries," Lee told Loyola News. 

Specifically, Lee said, ACC wants to change the way battery cells are joined together in a battery. Currently, those cells are welded together, which can make them nearly impossible to recycle.

"That's an expensive, inefficient, and toxic process because of how they're built," Lee said. "Our design will combat these inefficient and polluting processes."

EVs have proved, time and time again, that they are significantly better for the environment than gas-powered cars. But that doesn't mean they're perfect — and their batteries are a shining example of that.

Batteries contain lithium, which requires mining to obtain. That mining has a considerable environmental impact, although it is a fraction of the impact caused by mining for dirty energy sources, such as those needed for gas-powered cars.

But as more drivers make the switch to EVs, that raises the question of what will happen to all of those batteries when this generation of cars reaches the end of their working lives.

EV batteries are much larger and heavier than those in gas-powered cars, often weighing around 1,000 pounds. And the batteries contain materials that, if not handled correctly, could leach toxins into the environment or explode.

What is your biggest concern with EV batteries? They're not efficient enough ⚡ The materials used to make them ⚒️ They're not easily recyclable ♻️ They don't last long enough 🪫 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

Several options exist for recycling EV batteries, but these are often expensive or cumbersome. They also haven't proved to be too popular so far, with some experts estimating that only 5% of EV batteries actually get recycled.

That's the problem ACC aims to fix. The company says its goal is to "establish an industry standard for electric car batteries in order to optimize the recycling process." 

To accomplish that, the students are working on developing a prototype battery, as well as applying to more contests and accelerators to help fund their dream.

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