You know, at work we are not supposed to dispose of batteries in the regular trash. Evidently a pair of dead AA batteries could get us into hot water with the EPA if you don’t use the correct hazardous waste disposal.
A while back I replaced the battery in my Kindle 3 e-reader. While I was pleased to keep my antique e-reader going, the label on the old battery said not to dispose of it in the garbage because it could start a fire. (I pictured the truck of my poor trash man engulfed in flames.) And wasn’t there an incident a while back where people were getting injured by the exploding batteries of their laptops?
No one in the media seems to be predicting any of the bad stuff that’s going to happen when America’s millions of automobiles go electric. What’s the anticipated life expectancy of those batteries? What will it cost to get your batteries replaced?Will we just throw the car out when the batteries wear out like we might do with a rechargeable flashlight? Will anyone’s car ever spontaneously burst into flames going down the road? And what about accidents? No one ever gets into wrecks on the road, do they?
We always adopt technology with its potential benefits in mind. We always underestimate the downsides of new technologies. We are horrible at accurately predicting the future when it comes to technology.