May 13, 2026
DENVER – The Colorado General Assembly today passed Senate Bill 26-003, “End-of-Life Management for Electric Vehicle Batteries,” with landslide bipartisan support across both chambers. The bill is now on its way to Gov. Polis’s desk, where he has until June 12 to sign.
Colorado is a leader in EV adoption with around 200,000 electric vehicles on the road. SB 26-003 ensures that when those vehicles reach their end of life, the batteries inside are safely handled and managed, reused in new EVs, repurposed for things like clean energy storage or recycled to put the critical minerals inside to good use.
The EVs of tomorrow can be and should be powered by the batteries and critical minerals of today. It’s that reduce, reuse, recycle mantra come to life at a statewide scale. Creating a circular economy for these resources will make an already climate-friendly technology even better, reducing air pollution and propelling Colorado into the future.
The bill prohibits landfilling; requires that batteries be reused, repurposed or recycled according to industry best practices; and reduces pollution associated with producing new batteries. If signed, Colorado would be the first jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere to require critical mineral recovery from propulsion batteries, increasing domestic supply of these rare resources and reducing the pressure for mineral extraction.
“Lithium-ion batteries contain critical minerals and maximizing their recovery is good policy grounded in science,” said Dr. Jessica Dunn, a scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Clean Transportation program. “By setting clear recovery rates and prioritizing reuse and repurposing, this bill helps preserve the functional value of battery components for as long as possible and reduces the need for new extraction. This is exactly the kind of science-informed approach we need to ensure electric vehicles deliver their full economic, climate and sustainability potential.”
This framework allows businesses like local scrapyards to take economic advantage of wanted batteries but establishes the automakers as the party responsible for collecting and managing batteries that are unwanted. Automakers helped craft this legislation and will play a leading role in putting it into action. The fee structure, funded by automakers, will entirely offset the state’s costs and will not impact Colorado taxpayers.
“This balanced policy approach helps return used EV battery critical minerals to the supply chain, reducing the need for new mineral extraction,” said Nick Steingart, director of state affairs at Alliance for Automotive Innovation. “By encouraging domestic reuse and recycling of EV batteries, we can create a more resilient local critical mineral supply chain that supports the automotive industrial base and American economic security.”
Union of Concerned Scientists and Western Resource Advocates were key architects of this legislation, but SB 26-003 was shaped by a broad set of industry representatives including auto manufacturers, vehicle scrappers, waste haulers and battery recyclers. It is sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Lisa Cutter, Sen. Katie Wallace, Rep. Kyle Brown and Rep. Rebekah Stewart.
