The EU Battery Passport Circular Economy for Batteries - Blog Post II/III

In the course of the Clean Industrial Deal (formerly Green Deal), the EU has set itself the task of keeping products longer in their life cycles and turning linear value creation into a circular one. To this end, so-called digital product passports are to be successively introduced in various product categories.

This is the second part of the three-part blog series on the circular economy for batteries – the first part can be found here. This second part focuses on EU regulation and the EU battery passport:

The larger framework

In the course of the Clean Industrial Deal (formerly Green Deal), the EU has set itself the task of keeping products longer in their life cycles and turning linear value creation into a circular one. To this end, so-called digital product passports are to be successively introduced in various product categories.

These digital product passports aim at improving transparency within the value chain, as well as between different users in use and reuse. The goal is to boost confidence in product quality – even after different application cycles – since this is essential in establishing an effective circular economy. The sustainability of individual value creation steps also plays an important role here. The extension of the service life as well as consideration of repairability, for example, have a more positive effect than the one-sided focus on recycling.  If you would like to learn more about the effectiveness of individual circular economy measures, take a look at the first part of this blog series.

 

The EU battery passport

The EU battery passport is a first specific application of the digital product passports and is intended to serve as a pilot project. The requirements are mainly aimed at manufacturers and distributors of industrial and traction batteries (over 2kWh capacity) within the EU – this applies to all batteries from e-scooters/bikes to car batteries. From 18 February 2027, these companies, as well as suppliers along the entire value chain from raw materials to recyclates, will be required to provide all relevant information. The corresponding EU regulation (EU Battery Regulation 2023/1542) has already been in force since 17 August 2023 and goes beyond the EU battery passport.

EU battery passport information

As well as the serial number (“Battery ID”) and manufacturer information, the battery passport contains detailed data concerning:

- the origin of the battery

- the chemical composition of the battery cells

- other materials and components (incl. hazardous substances)

- certificates of verified sustainability standards (e.g. on working conditions)

- CO2 footprint

- log of relevant usage histories

- performance and durability data

- information on recyclability and repairability, as well as a description of the implementation (including disassembly instructions)

- disposal instructions

The battery passport thus contains data that provides information about the previous cycles and fields of application and can therefore predict the remaining lifetime and performance. Together with the information on the materials used and repairability and recyclability, the EU battery passport can lay the groundwork for new business models: for example, the used car market and independent repair shops, which will gain access to important battery data, will benefit.

However, by providing information on the environmental impact and supply chain, the EU goes one step further: all emissions generated during production, during the service life and during disposal are documented in this way, illustrating that a higher recycling rate reduces environmental costs during disposal and incentivising battery circularity.

Current status

The introduction of such a wide-reaching battery passport is anything but trivial. New standards must be defined, software systems programmed and a so-called “data portal” set up. Various working groups were also set up with the participation of research institutions such as the Fraunhofer Institute or standardisation bodies such as the German Institute for Standardization (DIN). Industry, the authorities and institutes work together here in many individual consortia.

The Fraunhofer Institute assumes that for battery manufacturers and distributors to be able to submit the battery passport from February 2027, all the necessary substructures, technical specifications and test systems should already be completed (by the end of 2025). A DIN standard on “Requirements for data attributes of the battery passport” DIN DKE SPEC 99100 is already available, and a test environment / practical test bench for data processes and interactions with users has already been developed in the “BatteryPass-Ready” project. However, there is still a lack of harmonised technical specifications and an EU-wide passport register, for example. In order to ensure a smooth, mandatory introduction in February 2027, there are still a few kinks to be ironed out by the consortia as quickly as possible.