Ban the import of used electric cars

In the US, pressure is growing on government institutions to ban the export of used electric cars abroad. Regulators are concerned about the safety of their transportation and subsequent disposal.

In particular, authorities hope to better track batteries left in crashed cars through transport channels. After all, there are already many cases of fires during transportation of such cars caused by ignition of their batteries.

Another reason for a possible ban is to avoid exporting e-waste to countries that do not have the means to recycle or divert it. US officials want to keep the valuable minerals contained in the batteries in their country.

Battery recycling companies in Western Europe and the US have received huge amounts of private and public investment to help strengthen supply chains for raw materials from old or used batteries. But for now, they only have a small fraction of the batteries in the form of used ones.

So far, the existing industry of insurance companies and auctions plays to the advantage of other countries that carry electric cars hit. In particular, electric cars are more likely to be declared a “total loss” after accidents than cars with internal combustion engines, “electrics” can be declared irreparable even after minor accidents. A Reuters analysis this year found that a “large proportion” of damaged EVs sold for scrap were near-new vehicles with low mileage.

The main reason why repairing electric vehicles is so difficult is the lack of specific regulations for handling electric vehicle batteries after an accident. There is no worldwide industry standard for measuring battery performance.

Vehicle manufacturers sometimes refuse to allow battery repairs due to safety concerns. No one knows what will happen to a repaired battery after two, three years and another 50,000 km. It’s easier to let almost new vehicles be deregistered than to deal with lawsuits later.

Of course, there are companies in the US that make money by dismantling cars to extract the most valuable parts for resale. But disassembling the battery requires special workers, equipment and, most importantly, space because of the fire-hazardous storage of lithium-ion cells. And many of the companies in question do not have one.

Also, EVs tend to have simpler powertrains with more plastic and large prefabricated body components that are not easy to disassemble. In some electric vehicles, the battery is built directly into the structure of the vehicle, making it particularly difficult to disassemble.