My family drives electric vehicles for many of the same reasons as others in Colorado: quiet ride, less maintenance, and critically, no heat-trapping emissions or nitrogen oxide emissions from the tailpipe. Gas and diesel vehicles produce pollutants that create ozone, harm human health, and contribute to climate change.
As a scientist, I spent my career studying the impact of air pollutants on Rocky Mountain National Park. The opportunity to help protect the park I love and the rest of our nation’s natural resources made the move to electric cars the obvious choice.
This year, Colorado has made history as the first state to implement a comprehensive, robust program for the reuse and recycling of electric vehicle batteries.
Senate Bill 3, which was signed into law June 3 by Gov. Jared Polis, will drive Colorado forward towards a low-emission transportation future that ensures electric vehicle batteries are reused, repurposed and recycled. The automotive industry, recyclers, vehicle dismantlers and environmental organizations came together to support the law.
With more than 210,000 electric vehicles registered in Colorado as of 2025, we led the nation with almost 30% of new car sales being electric. Electric vehicles produce fewer planet-warming emissions over their lifespan and don’t emit tailpipe toxins that lead to health problems such as asthma, cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
But important questions remain: What will happen to these batteries when the vehicles retire? Where will all the minerals for the batteries come from? And how can legislators, automakers, and other Coloradans further reduce the impact of creating these batteries and vehicles?
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Senate Bill 3 changes that in Colorado and provides a framework that can be followed by the rest of the nation. It is the first nationwide guideline for ensuring EV batteries are properly recycled.
The law ensures that unwanted electric vehicle batteries are safely handled, repurposed and recycled. It relies on automakers to repurpose batteries and then recover the minerals through recycling — following a framework that is already being used in the European Union and China, among other places.
Colorado is no stranger to abandoned mines, which have been harming our streams for more than 100 years. Repurposing and recycling of EV batteries can reduce the pressure to mine new lands for metal in the United States and worldwide.
Current recycling technology can recover over 90% of lithium, cobalt and nickel. The Union of Concerned Scientists has estimated that if recycling and other efficiency measures are implemented, 50% of US lithium mineral needs can be met with recycled content. This would protect the environment and reduce U.S. dependence on minerals from other nations.
Repurposed electric vehicle batteries can provide stationary battery storage and backup power to support communities during extreme weather and can also store and release energy at times of need, a necessary part of the energy grid’s transition to wind and solar energy. This bill also includes critical information about the battery health, to help ensure that process can be easier.
Colorado has never been afraid to lead and has a long tradition of protecting the places we love while embracing new opportunities. With Senate Bill 3, our state has once again shown that leadership means planning not just for today’s challenges, but for tomorrow’s — with practical solutions. As other states transition to clean transportation, Colorado has provided a model worth following.
Jill Baron, of Fort Collins, holds a Ph.D. in ecosystem ecology from Colorado State University and is retired from the United States Geological Survey.
Jessica Dunn contributed to this column. She holds Ph.D. in Energy Systems and specializes in lithium-ion battery sustainability and conducts research on material circularity and reducing battery impacts through repurposing and recycling.