100,000+ EVs on the Road, Zero Battery Recycling System — Who Cleans Up Later?

The Auditor General's report released in September found Sri Lanka's EV fleet grew from around 30,000 in September 2025 to over 100,000 by June 2026 — but there's still no system to track, collect or recycle used batteries once they die. There isn't even a separate customs code for EV batteries, so nobody can properly trace what's coming in or where it ends up. One side: we handed out tax breaks to push EVs without building the end-of-life plan, and in 8-10 years we could have thousands of dead battery packs with nowhere safe to go — that's a bigger mess than the emissions we're saving now. The other side: this is a problem for the 2030s, not today, batteries get a second life in home storage before they're actually scrapped, and recyclers will show up once there's real volume to work with. If you're driving a Leaf, an Aqua PHEV or a BYD, has anyone actually told you what happens when your battery goes — or are you assuming someone else will sort it out? Dan bank eka ivara unama, kauda eka බැහැර karanne?