The Growing Mountain of China's Abandoned EVs

Outdated electric vehicles (EVs) are piling up in China as people upgrade to more efficient models, leading to vast automotive graveyards filled with abandoned cars. The rapid growth of China's EV industry, coupled with the failure of ride-hailing companies, has resulted in a saturated market of unwanted EVs. These abandoned vehicles raise concerns about the safe disposal of EVs, which contain environmentally intense rare earth metals and other potentially toxic materials. The mass offloading of outdated EVs highlights the need for a plan to address the end-of-life management of EVs as their battery life expires.