Electric cars are piling up in what is being called vast automotive graveyard

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

China has emerged as the global powerhouse in electric vehicle manufacturing and sales, but there seems to be a dark side to its rise. There was a recent video released that showcases enormous fields filled with thousands of abandoned Chinese electric cars. The scene appears eerie as the white paint is tainted by layers of dust and tires partly covered by encroaching grass. Inside, they appear spanking new, as the plastic seat wraps are untouched and the screens still shining. There is another angle on this part of the story, but we will get to that a little later.

This mass offloading of outdated EVs has saturated the market with cars that people don’t want to buy. As a result, the cars are piling up in what is being called vast automotive graveyards. Bloomberg reports that “Pools of unwanted battery-powered vehicles have sprouted up in at least half a dozen cities across China.”

Hmmmm! Once again it seems like there is something that isn’t quite right in China.

The video that is circulating on the internet is of a field full of supposedly unsold EVs in China by now. They’re claimed to be all manner of things, from the result of defrauding Chinese EV subsidies to evidence that EVs aren’t selling. But while the site is indeed a car graveyard—for the most part, anyway—it’s the final resting place of an industry other than car manufacturing.

The field of cars was explored by Inside China Auto on YouTube, who translated the markings on the cars to explain their origins. The site is widely purported to contain up to 10,000 unsold new EVs.

Graveyards like this have been seen on and off since around 2019, filled with almost identical vehicles. They’re all white or silver, often the same model, and judging by the amount of dust and plants growing around them, they’ve been sitting for a while, but these are not new EVs, and they only number in the hundreds. Most are five to six years old and have seen significant use, with aftermarket accessories, trash in their interiors, and other signs of wear. That’s because you’re looking at a fleet of retired rideshare cars that were once operated in large cities in China.

In these EV mass graves, cars sit with nobody to look after them, tend to or even drive them, which means nature is slowly taking over. Bloomberg reports of cars with plants growing out their engine bays, and others that are surrounded by thick vegetation with no hope of escape.

All these abandoned vehicles are raising questions about how EVs can be safely disposed of. They’re filled with rare earth metals that are environmentally intense to extract from the Earth, and other materials that can be toxic.

These vehicles’ batteries contain nickel, lithium and cobalt, which are environmentally and ethically costly to mine and produce. They could be recycled or repurposed back into the EV or energy industries, as electric vehicles only really start to become more environmentally friendly after a few years on the road. The longer they sit, slowly being taken over by vines, the worse that impact.

Electric vehicles, like all other types of vehicles, have a life cycle that involves manufacturing, usage, and eventual disposal or recycling. While electric vehicles are generally considered more environmentally friendly than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, their components, including batteries, require careful handling at the end of their life.

Batteries, in particular, are a concern because they can degrade over time and lose their capacity to hold a charge. Improper disposal of these batteries could potentially lead to environmental issues, as they can contain hazardous materials.

The mass abandonment of the cars also came partly from the rapid rise of China’s EV industry. With new and better models coming from an array of manufacturers, existing vehicles are becoming quickly outdated. It seems that instead of selling them into the second-hand market, it has become easier (and cheaper) to just park the cars somewhere out of the way and leave them.

So much for environmentally friendly driving options.