ABSTRACT
Electric vehicles are gaining attention globally due to their capabilities of replacing conventional internal combustion engines that use fossil fuels as sources of energy. Electric vehicles use batteries as the primary source of energy. It is green and clean and produces less pollution as compared to conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. Nowadays, the most common energy source for electric vehicles is lithium-ion batteries. However, the development of lithium-ion batteries has reached its peak in which the performance is limited based on the current technology. Besides that, used lithium-ion batteries will cause pollution to the environment as there is no consensus on proper disposal or recycling method. Hence, there is a need to introduce alternative energy sources in electric vehicles to reduce the environmental impact. Metal–air batteries are a promising candidate as they have a high theoretical energy density, which is ideal to improve the travel distance of the electric vehicle. Metal–air batteries require air and a metal anode to generate electricity. The design is simple and produces less end products as compared to lithium-ion batteries. In general, mostly the end product of metal–air batteries is their corresponding metal oxide, which can be recycled or processed into secondary products. This chapter will provide an overview of the waste management of metal–air batteries.
