The electrification of the auto industry affects more than the workers and companies that build cars. It ripples out to the ones wrenching them apart.
The auto salvage and scrap industries have spent decades processing petrol-powered cars, harvesting pieces from camshafts to hubcaps for resale as spare parts or scrap metal. Now they are contemplating how to process a wave of battery-powered cars when they reach the end of the road.
Volumes of EVs being recycled are small. Besides the odd Nissan Leaf that turns up, most models have years of life left. EVs comprised just 9.1 per cent of US new car sales in the second quarter of this year.