Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to ensure the safe disposal of electric vehicle batteries at the end of their life.

Electric vehicle (EV) batteries are classed as industrial batteries under the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009, which requires producers of industrial batteries to offer free take back upon request from end users.

The Office of Product Safety and Standards is the regulator for waste industrial batteries and investigates reported instances of failure by producers to take back end of life EV batteries.

The Government is committed to effective end-of-life management for batteries and is engaging with industry and other stakeholders to inform a review of the UK batteries regulations, including obligations on producer responsibility for end-of-life EV batteries.