New Jersey enacts EPR law for EV batteries

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Battery Management Act into law Jan. 8, making New Jersey the first state with an extended producer responsibility (EPR) law for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Sponsoring the legislation (A5365/S3723), which was passed by the legislature late last year, were Assemblymembers John McKeon, Joe Danielsen and Shama Haider and Sen. Robert Smith.

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While New Jersey is the first state to pass an EV battery EPR law, three other states have passed EPR laws for batteries in recent years, with the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI), Boston, noting they have included best practices from PSI’s model battery EPR legislation and have built on Vermont’s 2014 single-use household battery EPR law, which also was a first.

In 2021, the nation’s capital enacted a single-use and rechargeable battery EPR law, which also addressed battery-containing products, while California followed in 2022 with an EPR law that also covers a broad scope of single-use and rechargeable batteries, but added stronger convenience standards and an advisory board that requires multi-stakeholder input, PSI says. That was followed by Washington state’s law, enacted in 2023, which also covers a broad scope of single-use and rechargeable batteries, but is the first state to include batteries of up to 2,000 watt-hours, including those for e-mobility devices. Washington’s law also requires a study of the opportunities and challenges of managing large-format batteries (such as those used in electric vehicles and energy storage) as well as batteries embedded in products, such as electronics.

New Jersey’s law covers electric and hybrid vehicle propulsion batteries, including lithium-ion and nickel-metal hybrid batteries. The law states that, beginning Jan. 1, 2027, propulsion batteries sold in the state, whether embedded in a vehicle or not, will need to include a permanent label providing information about the battery in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) prior to sale, importing or distributing the battery for use in the state.

The bill describes a propulsion battery as an electrical energy storage device consisting of one or more individual battery modules or battery cells that are used to supply power to propel an electric or hybrid road vehicle. It adds that propulsion batteries include but are not limited to lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries.

According to PSI, “As with nearly all effective EPR laws, the law requires producers of propulsion batteries to establish battery management plans that must be submitted to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for approval and reviewed at least every five years. Stewardship organizations must also submit plans that will achieve program goals established by the NJ DEP. Additionally, producers will be responsible for developing educational materials for consumers regarding available collection options, as well as to inform vehicle owners, repair facilities and dismantlers about the requirement to properly manage batteries.”

No later than six months after the effective date of the act, the NJ DEP will conduct a needs assessment to determine the availability of authorized propulsion battery recyclers and related public and private infrastructure needed to implement the provisions of the law. The NJ DEP can use a qualified third-party organization to conduct the needs assessment, which must be completed no later than 18 months after the effective date of the act.