For EV & traction batteries
Battery passports for EV and traction batteries
One passport per pack, alive for the whole life of the battery — from the assembly line, through warranty and repair, into second life and recycling.
Updated 2026-09-20 · All industries · Guides to the regulation
What is in scope
Every electric vehicle battery placed on the EU market from 18 February 2027 needs a digital battery passport, reachable through a data carrier on the battery itself. There is no capacity threshold for EV batteries: the obligation is not limited to large packs, and it applies per individual unit.
The practical consequence is volume. A plant producing a few hundred packs a day produces a few hundred passports a day, each with its own serial number, production date and initial condition — which is a systems problem, not a compliance-department problem.
The three hard parts
1. Per-unit records at line speed
Typing forty fields per pack is not an option. The workable pattern is to declare the model data once per product version, and to register each unit with only what is unique to it: serial number, manufacturing date, and the initial state of the pack. With an API call from the MES or ERP, registering a passport becomes part of end-of-line testing.
Labels usually have to be applied before the data is complete. Reserving passport identifiers in advance lets you print data carriers first and activate each unit later — a scanned but not yet activated code then shows a clear "genuine code, not yet activated" page instead of an error.
2. A record that stays true for fifteen years
Identity data is fixed at market placement, but state of health, cycle count, remaining capacity and lifecycle status keep changing. A passport that is written once and never updated does not meet the intent of the regulation and, worse, becomes useless exactly when it matters: at resale, at warranty disputes, and at end of life.
That is an integration question. If a fleet platform or a service system can post condition updates automatically, the record stays meaningful. If it needs a person to retype numbers, it will be stale within a year.
3. Different audiences, different data
A consumer scanning the code should see the product and its sustainability data. A repairer needs safe-removal and dismantling information. A recycler needs the composition. Market-surveillance authorities and notified bodies need the technical file. Article 77 splits passport data into public and restricted tiers for exactly this reason, and a platform has to enforce that split rather than publish everything and hope.
What this looks like in OrigoPass
- Product once, units in bulk — a guided wizard for the model data, then API or Excel for the packs.
- Pre-created identifiers so labels can be printed weeks before data exists.
- Machine updates for condition data, every update sealed as a new version with its own timestamp.
- Article 77 access built in: repairers and recyclers request access from the passport page, you approve, they get a time-limited link, and every view is recorded.
- Your own domain on the label, so the URL etched into a pack does not depend on a supplier relationship.
- Exports as BatteryPass-Ready v2.0.1 JSON and as signed W3C Verifiable Credentials for data exchange with customers and authorities.
Where to start
- Pick one pack variant and complete its model data — this is where the real effort sits, especially carbon footprint and composition data from cell suppliers.
- Agree the label: what is etched, where, and which URL it carries for the next fifteen years.
- Connect end-of-line registration to the API, and run a pilot batch before scaling.
- Decide who may write condition updates later: service network, fleet platform, second-life partner.
General information, not legal advice. Verify obligations for your specific products against the regulation and, where needed, with a qualified adviser.
Frequently asked
Does every individual EV battery need its own passport?
Yes. The passport is per battery unit, identified by its unique serial number, not per model. Shared model data (chemistry, carbon footprint, composition) is declared once; per-unit data such as serial number, production date and state of health is attached to each pack.
Who is responsible for an EV battery passport: the carmaker or the cell supplier?
The economic operator placing the battery on the EU market. For a pack built into a vehicle in the EU that is usually the vehicle manufacturer or the pack builder; for imported packs it is the importer. Cell and material suppliers deliver data, but the obligation stays with the operator placing it on the market.
What happens to the passport when a battery goes into second life?
The passport follows the battery. Repurposing for stationary storage makes the operator doing the repurposing responsible for the battery placed on the market in its new form, and the record must show the change of status and condition rather than starting over with a blank history.