The Digital Battery Passport

As part of Europe’s new battery sustainability law, a Digital Battery Passport will soon accompany every electric vehicle and industrial battery. This battery passport is a secure digital record that travels with a battery through its life cycle, accessible via a simple QR code on the battery. In essence, it serves as a “digital twin” of the physical battery, containing key information about the battery’s origins, composition, and performance history. The goal is to enable data-driven decisions that make batteries safer, easier to reuse or recycle, and more transparent for all stakeholders – from manufacturers and regulators to consumers and recyclers.

The battery passport concept was introduced in Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 to improve traceability and accountability in the battery value chain. It will become mandatory starting 18 February 2027 for all electric vehicle (EV) batteries, rechargeable industrial batteries above 2 kWh, and light means of transport (LMT) batteries (such as e-bike and e-scooter batteries) placed on the EU market. These categories cover the larger batteries with significant impacts, while small general-purpose batteries are not included in the passport mandate.

Each in-scope battery will be assigned a unique electronic record accessible by scanning a QR code printed on the battery’s label. This digital passport is essentially a data repository: when the QR code is scanned, authorized users (from a curious vehicle owner to a recycling facility operator) can retrieve detailed information about that battery. The passport requirement will apply to new batteries produced after the 2027 start date, but the industry is already gearing up to implement it ahead of time.

Importantly, the battery passport aligns with the EU’s broader vision of Digital Product Passports for sustainable products. The Batteries Regulation is the first EU law to mandate such a digital product passport, making it a trailblazer that other sectors (electronics, textiles, etc.) are expected to follow. By targeting batteries first – a sector critical to the clean energy transition – the EU is demonstrating how transparency can foster a circular economy for high-impact products.

What Information Will the Battery Passport Contain?

The digital battery passport will contain a comprehensive set of data about each battery, far beyond what a physical label can show. According to the regulation’s requirements, as further detailed by industry standards, the passport will include:

• Identification and Traceability: The battery’s unique ID and basic characteristics (manufacturer name, production plant location, production date, serial number). This ensures every battery can be individually traced.
• Technical Specifications: Key performance attributes such as the battery’s chemistry type (e.g. NMC lithium-ion), capacity and energy rating, expected lifetime (number of cycles or years), and other durability metrics. It may also log performance history data (state of health, previous uses) if updated over time.
• Environmental Footprint: The battery’s carbon footprint – i.e. the total greenhouse gas emissions from its production – expressed in a standardized form. This will include the carbon intensity value and the assigned performance class (once the classification system is in effect). The passport will also record the share of recycled materials used in the battery (e.g. what percentage of its lithium or cobalt content is from recycling), as manufacturers are required to report this under the new law.
• Material Sourcing and Content: Information on the raw materials and components, including the origin of critical materials. For instance, the passport will indicate if the battery contains cobalt, nickel, lithium, or natural graphite, and confirm that the manufacturer adhered to due diligence for responsible sourcing. This helps verify ethical and sustainable supply chains. Additionally, details of the battery’s composition (such as hazardous substances content, if any) are logged.
• End-of-Life and Safety Information: Guidelines for safe removal, replacement, and recycling of the battery are embedded in the passport data. The record can include how to dismantle the battery, handling instructions for recyclers, and the recycling efficiency achieved when the battery is processed at end-of-life. It will also note if the battery is repurposed for a “second life” application or classified as waste, as required by law.

Some of this passport data will be publicly accessible to all (like basic specs and environmental metrics), while more sensitive data (detailed chemistry, proprietary info) will be access-controlled for regulators or other authorized parties. This tiered access ensures transparency without compromising business confidentiality.

2024–2025 Progress: Laying the Groundwork

Although the digital battery passport isn’t compulsory until 2027, significant groundwork has been laid in 2024 and 2025 to ensure a smooth rollout:

• Standardizing the Data Model: In early 2025, a major milestone was achieved with the publication of DIN DKE SPEC 99100. This is an industry-developed specification that translates the EU regulatory requirements into a structured list of data attributes for the battery passport. Co-authored by a consortium of European industry players and standardization bodies, DIN SPEC 99100 provides a common “language” for all the data points that need to be collected. It covers everything from definitions of each data field to recommendations on data format and quality. By aligning the sector on a standard data model, it helps battery makers and digital platform providers start building compatible passport systems ahead of the legal deadline.
• Pilot Projects and Demonstrations: The concept of the battery passport has been tested in practice through pilot programs. Notably, the Global Battery Alliance (GBA) ran a series of Battery Passport pilots in 2024 with participation from major battery manufacturers worldwide. Ten cross-industry consortia (including battery makers, vehicle OEMs, and digital solution providers) collaborated to gather real-world sustainability data and generate prototype digital passports. The pilot batteries – representing over 80% of global EV battery production capacity – each produced a sample passport showcasing data like carbon footprint, material provenance, and recycling score. These 2024 pilots, whose results were unveiled by GBA in late 2024, provided invaluable insights into data collection challenges and technical solutions. They demonstrated that a battery’s “digital twin” can be created and used to compare sustainability performance across different supply chains. This pre-competitive effort has accelerated learning and consensus in the industry. As one highlight, leaders at the pilot launch event praised the GBA passport as a big step toward globally sustainable battery supply chains.
• Regulatory Guidance and Infrastructure: The European Commission is actively working on implementation details for the battery passport. The regulation mandates the Commission to adopt secondary legislation (implementing acts) by 2025 to specify how the passport system will function. By August 18, 2025, the Commission is expected to issue guidance or standards for the interoperability, data accessibility, and possible centralized registry for battery passports. This will likely address technical infrastructure (e.g. a database or network where passport data is stored and accessed via the QR codes) and rules for data verification and updates throughout a battery’s life. Early discussions suggest the EU might leverage existing systems (or develop a new platform) to host the passports, ensuring they are secure and universally readable. In parallel, companies have not waited – many are already investing in digital systems to compile the required data. Leading enterprises in the battery and automotive sectors (often involved in the aforementioned pilots) have dedicated teams preparing internal “passport readiness” programs, so that by 2027 they can seamlessly generate a compliant passport for each battery they produce.

Overall, the tone around the Digital Battery Passport is very positive within the industry. It is seen as an innovative tool that can unlock efficiencies and build trust. By consolidating all relevant information about a battery’s sustainability and status, the passport will make it easier to refurbish batteries for second-life uses, replace batteries in devices properly, and recycle batteries at end-of-life with full knowledge of their contents. Regulators too view it as a cornerstone for a circular battery economy – for example, they will be able to monitor compliance (like carbon footprint values or recycled content targets) on a per-battery basis via the passport. While there are still technical and logistical challenges to resolve (like data confidentiality and standardizing data exchange), the collaborative efforts in 2024–2025 have set a strong foundation. The EU battery passport is on track to launch as one of the world’s first digital product passports in active use, paving the way for greater sustainability and transparency not just in batteries but across consumer industries.

Sources Consulted:

European Commission (2023), IBF Solutions (2024), Global Battery Alliance (2024), Umicore (2025/04), Reverse Logistics Group (2024), VATAi (2025)