A battery-specific electronic record that connects an individual battery to required identity, compliance, sustainability, performance, and lifecycle evidence.
Battery passport is often reduced to the QR code or a product page, but Article 77 of the EU Battery Regulation creates a battery-specific electronic record. The record has to stay connected to the individual battery, its required Annex XIII information, and the systems that update and preserve that information over time.
A battery passport is the regulated electronic record for a specific battery. It is reached through a data carrier and anchored by a unique battery identifier, but it is not the QR code, not the identifier alone, and not a generic product webpage.
A battery passport is the structured electronic record for an individual battery. It is anchored by a unique battery identifier, reached through a physical data carrier, and governed with controlled access. The battery passport system is the infrastructure used to create, ingest, update, verify, permission, serve, and preserve that record over the battery lifecycle.
The common mistake is to collapse the whole battery-passport stack into one visible object. The QR code or data carrier is only the doorway. The unique identifier is only the anchor. Data standards are the blueprint. Traceability data is source material. The passport is the governed record; the platform stores, serves, permissions, or updates data; and the evidence proves the claims inside the record.
The battery passport is the structured electronic record associated with the battery. The battery passport system is the infrastructure around that record: supplier data feeds, product master data, lifecycle databases, APIs, identity credentials, verification workflows, access-control layers, backup arrangements, and user interfaces. Separating the record from the system avoids confusing the legal object with the technical stack used to deliver it.
A battery passport is not a static PDF or a basic public webpage where every viewer sees the same thing. It must combine relatively stable model-level information, such as manufacturer identity, battery model, chemistry, composition, category, and declarations, with battery-specific or updated lifecycle information, such as state of health, state of charge, cycle count, repair history, use-derived performance data, and status changes. A compliant implementation may keep this data in more than one system, but the passport must give the required information a coherent battery-specific structure.
A battery passport is not one public page with the same disclosure level for every viewer. Some information must be broadly accessible, while other information may be restricted to specific actors or authorities. A practical passport implementation needs authentication, authorization, selective disclosure, auditability, backup, and long-term availability so that regulators, repairers, recyclers, competitors, and consumers can access the information they are entitled to see without exposing everything to everyone.
Article 77 of the EU Battery Regulation requires each LMT battery, industrial battery above 2 kWh, and electric vehicle battery placed on the EU market or put into service to have an electronic record called a battery passport from 18 February 2027. Annex XIII defines the information categories, including model-level and individual use-derived data. Industry initiatives such as the Global Battery Alliance Battery Passport and BatteryPass influence implementation language, but the legal obligation remains source-specific to the EU Battery Regulation.
Implementation teams should design the passport around item identity, supplier evidence, access rights, update rules, availability, and lifecycle continuity. A passport can look complete at launch and still fail later if the physical battery, identifier, data carrier, supplier records, repair events, second-life status, and recycling evidence stop resolving to the same record.
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries
From 18 February 2027 each LMT battery, each industrial battery with a capacity greater than 2 kWh and each electric vehicle battery placed on the market or put into service shall have an electronic record ('battery passport').
Strongest legal anchor for the existence of the battery passport as a required electronic record for specified battery categories.
Reference: Article 77(1)
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 concerning batteries and waste batteries
The battery passport shall contain information relating to the battery model and information specific to the individual battery, including resulting from the use of that battery, as set out in Annex XIII.
Operational content-scope anchor showing that the passport includes both model-level and individual-battery information, including use-derived data.
Reference: Article 77(2) and Annex XIII
Battery Passport
The GBA Battery Passport is a global sustainability reporting and certification scheme for batteries.
Useful ecosystem framing, but broader than the EU legal object and not a binding legal definition.
Reference: Main page description
The definitions from different sources are related but not legally interchangeable — check which source applies to your specific regulatory obligation before relying on a definition.
A battery passport is the regulated electronic record for a specific battery, accessed through a data carrier and anchored by a unique battery identifier, that makes required battery information available over the battery lifecycle.
Required from 18 February 2027 for LMT batteries, industrial batteries ≥ 2 kWh, and EV batteries.
China's 2026 NEV power-battery recycling measures establish a national traceability information platform and a digital identity management system for NEV power batteries. This is not the same legal object as the EU battery passport, but it is a strong China-side parallel showing how battery lifecycle information, identity, and recycling data are being regulated.
Implementation records should connect the unique battery identifier, data carrier, battery model and item data, supplier evidence, carbon and due-diligence records, performance and durability data, access rights, update events, and long-term availability requirements.
Battery passport is confusing because the market uses the phrase for several different things: the QR code, data carrier, unique battery ID, data standard, data itself, evidence, digital identity, and software platform. The useful distinction is the battery-specific record these pieces support: the evidence container that stays attached to the same physical battery through lifecycle events.
Direct implementation-oriented context for preparing passport-relevant data.
Read on MinespiderUseful boundary-setting between the core battery-passport concept and the Open Battery Passport framing.
Read on MinespiderFlagship glossary link for the e-book.
Read on MinespiderLegal basis for the EU battery passport obligation and information requirements.
Open referenceImplementation-oriented data attribute work for battery passport interoperability and standards alignment.
Open referenceIndustry context for battery passport sustainability reporting and certification language.
Open reference