TOKYO -- Over 100 companies and business groups, including Ford Motor, BMW and Denso, have agreed on common standards for evaluating and pricing used electric vehicle batteries.

The move marks a potential milestone in the drive to create vibrant secondhand markets for EV batteries. In turn, those markets could help encourage more people to buy electric cars, knowing that they can sell on used batteries.

Until now, there have been no global standards on how to evaluate the condition of secondhand batteries.

The Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative developed the new standards, which help measure the condition of used batteries and will be available for commercial use by 2022.