Border Chocolate is a 15-minute documentary exploring the cross-border flow of used vehicles from the United States to Mexico. Based on fieldwork conducted during graduate research at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, the film investigates how over a million used vehicles cross the border each year. These cars have become indispensable to daily life in Mexico, while also raising serious questions about environmental risk, informality, and policy blind spots.
As hybrid and electric vehicles begin entering this second-life stream, the film turns its lens to the emerging challenge of battery end-of-life: how do we ensure critical mineral recovery, protect communities from toxic waste, and create circular systems in regions with limited infrastructure?
Told through the voices of mechanics, users, scrapyard workers, and environmental experts, Border Chocolate is a call for binational cooperation and policy frameworks that match the scale of this underexamined trade.
Watch the film here:https://filmfreeway.com/BorderChocolate-TheSecondLifeEconomyofCars
Using this password: BatteriesWithoutBorders1357!
Researched and produced by Francisco Parés Olguín, Deputy Director, Global South Center at UC Davis ITS
