Used batteries from plug-in electric vehicles could help California meet its goals for energy storage, a report from the University of California, Los Angeles, and UC Berkeley law schools said. Anthony Eggert, executive director of the Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy at UC Davis, said that the idea of using refurbished EV batteries has merit. It will come down to the economics, he said. Battery prices are expected to drop in the future, he said, and used EV batteries will be competing with new batteries. To figure out whether the EV batteries are cost-competitive, he said, “you have to look at the future costs of batteries, not the current cost of batteries.”