ARTICLE
This summer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a notice in the Federal Register requesting information to help with the agency’s development of best practices with respect to the collection of batteries to be recycled and the establishment of a program to promote battery recycling through the development of voluntary labeling guidelines. ARA leaders and staff saw this as an opportunity to both emphasize the importance of the automotive recycling industry on the reuse, repurposing, and recycling of electric vehicles and their batteries. Over the last year, the federal government and car manufacturers have expressed serious concerns that there will be a shortage of the raw materials used in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries (especially lithium-ion batteries) by 2024. As a result, federal government agencies and car manufacturers have been looking at ways to ensure that the United States has a readily available and circular supply of the materials used to manufacture lithium-ion batteries. As a result, the ARA communicated to the EPA that automotive recyclers are the largest collective owners of end-of-life vehicles and that the most viable solution to address raw material shortages for electric vehicle batteries is to support the reuse, repurposing, and recycling of electric vehicle batteries and their critical materials. In response to the EPA’s request for information to assist in the development of labeling guidelines, the ARA urged the EPA to include the following information in the form of physical labels and an electronic database: (1) battery type and chemistry; (2) known pollutants and composition; (3) safety information; (4) where batteries can be located within a vehicle and how many batteries a vehicle contains; (5) how battery cells are connected; and (6) a vehicle identification number. All six of these pieces of information are critical to promote electric vehicle battery reuse, repurposing, and recycling. It is also critical in making sure that automotive recyclers can safely dismantle and reuse, repurpose, and recycle electric vehicle batteries.
This summer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a notice in the Federal Register requesting information to help with the agency’s development of best practices with respect to the collection of batteries to be recycled and the establishment of a program to promote battery recycling through the development of voluntary labeling guidelines. ARA leaders and staff saw this as an opportunity to both emphasize the importance of the automotive recycling industry on the reuse, repurposing, and recycling of electric vehicles and their batteries.
Over the last year, the federal government and car manufacturers have expressed serious concerns that there will be a shortage of the raw materials used in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries (especially lithium-ion batteries) by 2024. As a result, federal government agencies and car manufacturers have been looking at ways to ensure that the United States has a readily available and circular supply of the materials used to manufacture lithium-ion batteries. As a result, the ARA communicated to the EPA that automotive recyclers are the largest collective owners of end-of-life vehicles and that the most viable solution to address raw material shortages for electric vehicle batteries is to support the reuse, repurposing, and recycling of electric vehicle batteries and their critical materials.
In response to the EPA’s request for information to assist in the development of labeling guidelines, the ARA urged the EPA to include the following information in the form of physical labels and an electronic database: (1) battery type and chemistry; (2) known pollutants and composition; (3) safety information; (4) where batteries can be located within a vehicle and how many batteries a vehicle contains; (5) how battery cells are connected; and (6) a vehicle identification number. All six of these pieces of information are critical to promote electric vehicle battery reuse, repurposing, and recycling. It is also critical in making sure that automotive recyclers can safely dismantle and reuse, repurpose, and recycle electric vehicle batteries.