End-of-life batteries contain abundant reusable resources, and improper handling not only wastes a significant amount of these resources but also poses serious environmental pollution risks. The rapid development of China's electric vehicle industry will lead to the retirement of a large number of batteries in the future. However, the recycling of end-of-life electric vehicle batteries currently faces challenges in management and uneven technological levels. Effective predictions regarding the future market size of end-of-life electric vehicle batteries are necessary, along with corresponding suggestions to improve battery recycling and utilization. In this paper, we estimated the echelon utilization potential and recovery utilization potential of end-of-life EV batteries in China from 2023 to 2035 under multiple scenarios. The results indicate that the echelon utilization potential of lithium iron phosphate batteries will exceed their recovery utilization potential in 2026 and will surpass the recovery potential of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide batteries in 2029. At the provincial level, both echelon and recovery utilization do not align with the geographical distribution of battery recycling enterprises. Therefore, it is essential to accelerate the construction of the extended producer responsibility scheme, encourage the research and development of key technologies for echelon utilization, and expand the whitelist enterprises based on EV ownership in each province.