Electric cars.

We could all have water butts on trailers behind our cars to collect the water, which we could all use to water our gardens.

 

Ok, its gone far enough.

 

Chemistry Master here. That is because it is a lot easier to get oxygen by cooling down the air around us. This also gives us liquid nitrogen which is by far the more useful in lots of industrial processes.

Hydrogen is gained mainly by cracking methane (natural gas, CH4) with hot steam into CO2 and Hydrogen. So basically it burns fossil fuels.

Thirdly Hydrogen is a real bitch to work with. It has the smallest atoms of all the chemical elements and is able to diffuse though lots of materials that are water- and airtight. Combined with a really low boiling point end tendency to violently explode with trace amounts of it being present in the air it's a real challenge to store and transport it. If people have reservations against BEV because "they burn easily" (which has been busted lots of times), how would they feel about a car where the tiniest of leaks could cause a major explosion?

Regarding the recycling of batteries. Really? This coming from the guys using the "good old glyphosate" to kill weeds and used motor oil to paint the fences?
One of the main reasons there aren't many recycling plants around yet are because electric cars by themselves are pretty new. Most haven't even reached the end of life after being purchased in the last 5 years or so - which is what the BBC report you quoted says.
And the old car batteries make excellent stationary power storages because they are "used up" when the capacity falls below a certain point (typically around 70%).
Doesn't mean they are dead yet.

 

Large scale hydrogen in cars is probably a non starter due to the problems outlined by @Black Dog Another interesting thing is that some metals become brittle after contact with hydrogen (hydrogen embrittlement).
There are trials going ahead with hydrogen distribution through existing gas mains either with methane or alone, boilers will need new burners as a minimum.
Hydrogen can also be generated by electrolysis of water giving hydrogen and oxygen, the electricity can come from solar cells or wind generators. The hydrogen and oxygen can then be stored on site and used to generate electricity at times of peak demand.
Hydrogen can also be generated directly from water by photocatalysis, gradually getting more efficient and cheaper.
Liquid nitrogen is another possible storage medium for excess electricity as it can be produced, stored and then used to drive a generator. See here Articles - INNOVATION WATCH - Delivering clean cold and power for one approach.

 

Anyone remember the Hindenburg
Where's @shiney when you need him.

 

That must have been a different one

 

If battery's had rare metals in side them, they will soon be recycled

 

They do have scarce metals in them that are difficult and can be environmentally damaging to extract and purify.

 

Then you should hope for Hydrogen fuel cell powered cars. They use substantial amounts of platinum and palladium to catalyse the reaction. That's one point why the are so very expensive.

Luckily crude oil is easily extracted, widely available and environmentally friendly. And since every country has easy access, there wouldn't be any wars fought about it...

But honestly, what kind of rare elements are you talking about? Lithium? It's on rank 4 of the most common elements in the earths crust. It's just that nobody ever saw any use for it before. So production capacities wer kind of low at the start of the EV boom. Secondly there is steel (duh) , aluminium (dito), Copper, plastic and computer chips. All stuff that's used in traditional cars as well.
Only difficult things are cobalt, but it's not used anymore in newer Generation EVs.

 

@Black Dog you are quite right lithium is not rare and neither are the others. There are supply and demand issues due to the sheer amount of lithium, copper and nickel that will be required.
As for hydrogen fuel cells these use a lot less in the way of precious metals than even 20 years ago.
All these things will be worth recycling at the end of their life.