Starting from February 2027, the European Union (EU) will introduce a battery passport for electric vehicles (EVs). This new regulation will require all new electric cars sold in the EU to be sold with a battery passport, providing information about the origin of the materials used in the power battery.
The battery passport will be linked to the vehicle identification number (VIN) of the car, and will show information about who produced the battery and handled its materials, where the battery materials were refined, and where they were extracted from. This system will apply to all electric vehicles, including buses, trucks, and mining equipment, with a battery capacity of more than 2 kilowatt hours.
The battery passport will display the battery’s condition and capacity, allowing future buyers of an electric car to make better educated decisions about whether the power pack needs to be replaced in the near future. The passport will also show where the materials used in the battery came from, which could prevent things like mining of cobalt in African countries for slave labor.
Ellen KY, Chief External Affairs Officer at Circularise, a company creating battery passports, said that the new technology will not only benefit car owners but also manufacturers. The automotive manufacturer will have access to all the information, while the car buyer will see general information and some supply chain information. The recycler, on the other hand, will only see the type of battery and how to safely remove and handle it.
The battery passport is the first time that such granular information about upstream activity is being shared with the end consumer, giving them purchasing information and choice. However, this new regulation will add cost to battery manufacturers, as they will need to have a special system to show different data to different parties.
The EU is yet to finalize the specific details of what will be required on battery passports, but it is expected to begin in 2027, giving manufacturers just under three years to comply with the new regulation.
