This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
Norman Wright fears electric vehicles could someday create a massive headache for Stadium Auto Parts, the 80-year-old business he owns in Commerce City, Colo.
A parade of tow trucks brings thousands of totaled cars to the lot every year. Once on site, crews remove any parts — transmissions, mirrors, seats, wheels — with potential value on secondary markets like eBay. Any leftover metal gets crushed and sorted for the scrapyard, a process Wright said represents one of the oldest forms of recycling in the U.S. economy.
In a corner of the sprawling lot, a shipping container holds batteries from EVs and hybrids. Only one sat in the structure on a recent visit in late June. So far, Wright has found buyers for the hulking energy storage devices, which can sometimes weigh as much as an entire gas-powered compact car.
As EV adoption picks up, however, he worries his business and other auto recyclers could become reluctant graveyards for damaged or otherwise unsellable EV batteries.
“You have got to do something with these batteries,” Wright said. “If they can’t be reused or remanufactured, it ends up here. And what do we do with it?”
That’s why Wright supported a first-in-the-nation bill in the Colorado legislature to support EV battery recycling. Signed by Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday, it requires automakers to establish a statewide program to process unwanted batteries. It also bans landfills from accepting the devices starting in October 2028.
The new law, SB26-003, also marks the first time any U.S. state has set specific targets to recover critical minerals from EV batteries. By 2031, for example, recycling companies must reclaim 50% of the lithium inside an EV battery, then improve to an 80% recovery rate by 2035. Those standards are meant to guarantee that raw materials for new batteries are not lost as recyclers dismantle and shred older devices.
Environmental groups behind the law won backing from both automakers and auto recyclers. If the approach works, supporters hope it could offer a blueprint to tackle one of the biggest environmental challenges behind EVs: all the mining required to make their batteries.
The dark underbelly of electric vehicles
Battery-powered cars are more climate-friendly than vehicles powered by fossil fuels.
EVs, however, only earn the status over months or years of steady driving. Take a mid-sized EV sedan like the Tesla Model 3. A model developed by Argonne National Laboratory estimates a driver must put 13,500 to 20,000 miles on the odometer before it's cleaner than a comparable gas car.
The main reason is the emissions from the supply chain behind EV batteries. Battery makers require massive amounts of critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese. Besides pumping out climate-warming gases, mines producing those materials often have poor labor standards and deplete local water resources.
“If we're able to create robust recycling of old batteries, we can greatly reduce the demand for freshly mined critical minerals,” said Aaron Kressig, a transportation electrification manager for Western Resource Advocates, one of the main environmental advocacy groups behind Colorado’s new recycling law.
Colorado is also one state guaranteed to have more EVs headed to salvage lots. In the last few years, the state has set some of the country’s highest EV adoption rates, sometimes outpacing more traditional leaders like Washington and California for the top spot.
The pace has dropped in the last year following the end of federal tax incentives. Despite the slowdown, nearly 200,000 plug-in vehicles are on Colorado roads, according to a dashboard maintained by the Colorado Energy Office.
Many of the batteries in those vehicles could find a new life thanks to a growing EV battery recycling industry. Some utilities have repurposed them to store renewable energy on the power grid. Other companies are already recovering raw material from spent vehicles to build new EV battery packs.
Improving the process could significantly cut demand for critical minerals over the coming decades. By 2050, battery recycling could supply 20% to 30% of lithium, nickel and cobalt, according to an analysis published by the International Energy Agency.
The possibility, however, depends on nations worldwide collecting far more spent EV batteries. Colorado’s new law aims to meet the challenge by making automakers ultimately responsible for the recovery of unwanted devices.
Holding carmakers responsible for battery waste
The state has taken a similar approach to boost its recycling rates for tires, packaging products and batteries in consumer electronics.
Known as “extended producer responsibility,” the policy concept is designed to shift responsibility for recycling onto companies making products that would otherwise go to waste. It works by charging manufacturers to pay to recover those materials at the end of their useful life. In the case of Colorado’s packaging rules, for example, the state has required manufacturers to establish and fund a nonprofit to finance local recycling programs.
State Sen. Katie Wallace, D-Longmont, sponsored the bill to apply a similar framework to EV batteries. To earn support from automakers, she said backers dropped an original plan to establish a state-led program to manage battery collection. The final version instead lets carmakers form an organization to take on the task under the direct oversight of state environmental officials.
“It’s exciting to see the industry come along in this way, and we appreciate the effort everybody put into this,” Wallace said.
The bill sailed through Colorado’s legislative chambers with bipartisan support. Its final passage earned quick praise from the Automotive Recyclers Association, which represents businesses managing spent and totaled cars. In a statement, it called the bill a “durable framework that addresses the growing risks associated with standard electric and hybrid-electric batteries.”
While Gov. Polis signed the bill into law, he also released a two-page signing statement reflecting concerns raised by automakers during the legislative process. In particular, he said lawmakers should consider reforming the plan to clarify that automakers are only responsible for batteries properly handled by auto recyclers.
