There has been a lot of discussion about EV battery recycling and even some large contracts between automakers and recyclers. This is certainly a good thing, as recycling means less mining of new raw materials for batteries, helping to further reduce the environmental impact of EVs. But to ensure that battery recycling takes off, having a good idea is not enough. That’s where Colorado’s new law comes in.
Signed into law by Governor Jared Polis last week Promoting Responsible End-of-Life Management of Electric Vehicle Batteries Act This is the first case of its kind in the US as reported in A blog post According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), this not only requires that batteries be recycled if other uses cannot be found, but also makes vehicle manufacturers responsible. It also sets recovery rates for critical battery materials and reporting requirements to show that recycling is actually occurring.
First and foremost, the law requires automakers to reuse or recycle their own as well as third-party battery packs. Crucially, this means that when an EV goes to the scrapyard, the automaker must collect its battery pack for free and arrange for recycling or a second-life use such as stationary power. End users will be able to keep the batteries if they wish, but this ensures that unwanted batteries are not simply thrown away.
For recycled batteries, 90% of the nickel and cobalt, as well as 50% of the lithium, must be recovered in intermediate form (the latter increasing to 80% in 2031), the so-called “black mass” stage, before the materials are completely separated. According to UCS, this effectively prevents smelting, which produces higher levels of emissions for lower levels of material recovery.
Vehicle manufacturers also must report to the state the number of batteries recovered, the rate of material recovered from recycling and other metrics. New batteries will also be labeled with required information such as chemistry, capacity, hazardous substances and recall details to aid recycling. And battery health information will be made available to third parties for tracking so users can better decide whether to reuse the battery or recycle it.
Getting more batteries is important to make recycling viable. In 2021, research firm Wood Mackenzie predicted that there would not be enough used batteries to support large-scale recycling by 2030, and that EV sales could fall further behind due to slowing EV sales due to Trump administration policies. Over the past few years, several automakers, including Audi, BMW, Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen, have signed recycling deals with Redwood Materials, the recycling company founded by ex-Tesla CTO JB Straubel. If the supply of recyclable batteries is very low, the amount of recovered material will not reduce the demand for raw materials for new battery production.
Colorado law ensures that as many batteries as possible will be available. While it’s not exactly the largest new car market, Colorado is largely EV-friendly, so there will be a meaningful number of battery packs available as more EVs reach retirement age. Reporting requirements should also help answer the question of whether to recycle or reuse batteries by providing information to help people determine which is better, rather than advocating for an equal supply of batteries or competing with one or the other.
California is usually the leading state in EV policy, but this time, Colorado is setting the example. Similar legislation—Senate Bill 615-2024—was passed by the state Legislature but vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom. Battery-recycling bills also failed in Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Washington state. And in the near future, it is unlikely that anything will happen at the federal level. For now, Colorado is providing a template for the rest of the country to follow.