Are Tesla Electric Cars Environmental Green?Production, Hazardous Waste and Mechanical Design of a Tesla Electric Car: Mini Hazardous Waste Report Proposal

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Solid Hazardous Waste Prevention and Air Control Engineering (MANE-6960)

Spring 2014Sean Paquette

Introduction • Report Proposal – The production, hazardous waste and mechanical design

of electric vehicles in the U.S. will be examinedTesla Motors – Case Study

• Tesla Motors in a publically traded American automobile manufacturing company • Founded 2003

• Tesla Roadster – First electric vehicle produced

• Tesla rechargeable battery packs are manufactured in Japan under strict environmental laws• Tesla batteries are “mostly made from lithium metal oxides with zero lead,

mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBBs or PBDEs• Tesla says that, by law its battery cells could be landfilled, though that is not what

they actually do

Tesla Roadster

Tesla’s Rechargeable Battery Pack