Project Summary
California leads the transition to electric mobility, but the systems that govern what happens to electric vehicles and batteries after they leave the primary market remain poorly understood. As EVs are damaged, salvaged, repaired, dismantled, exported, reused, or recycled, they move through a fragmented secondary ecosystem that shapes transportation affordability, battery value retention, and critical mineral recovery. This project will develop a stakeholder and systems-level analysis of California’s secondary EV and battery ecosystem. The project will center on qualitative ecosystem mapping, using stakeholder interviews and expert elicitation to identify the relationships, decision points, and governance gaps that shape used EV and end-of-life battery outcomes. A complementary quantitative component will estimate the scale and direction of used and salvage EV flows within and out of California and assess how selected policy scenarios could affect in-state value retention. The project will engage public agencies, industry stakeholders, workforce organizations, and affected communities through interviews and structured workshops. Findings will support policy strategies that improve used EV affordability, reduce environmental and safety risks, strengthen repair and recycling capacity, and help California retain more value from EVs and batteries as part of a circular economy.
