Why battery manufacturers and suppliers must connect product, material, production, and lifecycle data before 18 February 2027.
“A battery passport is not a document you create at the end of production. It is the result of traceable data collected throughout the battery’s life.”
The battery industry is changing quickly. Demand for electric vehicles, energy storage, e-bikes, industrial equipment, and electrified transport is increasing across Europe. At the same time, the expectations placed on batteries are becoming much higher.
A battery must no longer be viewed only as a product that stores energy.
It must increasingly be traceable, repairable, reusable, recyclable, and supported by reliable digital information. This is the purpose of the EU Battery Passport.
From 18 February 2027, every light means of transport battery, every industrial battery with a capacity above 2 kWh, and every electric-vehicle battery placed on the EU market or put into service must have an electronic battery passport. EU Batteries Regulation, Article 77
For many businesses, this may sound like a future compliance issue. It is not.
The operational work needed for battery passports must begin now.
Battery passports depend on data that is created across purchasing, product design, production, quality management, warehousing, logistics, sales, service, and recycling. If that data is incomplete, disconnected, or stored in spreadsheets and email folders, creating a reliable passport later will become difficult and expensive.
What Is a Battery Passport?
A battery passport is a digital record linked to an individual battery through a unique identifier and QR code.
It contains information about the battery model and, where required, information specific to the individual battery. The passport must be machine-readable, structured, searchable, interoperable, and based on open standards.
This is not a marketing product page. It is a controlled product-information system.
Depending on access rights and the battery category, the passport may include information such as:
- Battery model and unique battery identity.
- Manufacturer and responsible economic operator.
- Technical characteristics.
- Battery chemistry and materials.
- Performance and durability information.
- State of health.
- Carbon-footprint and sustainability-related information where applicable.
- Repair, disassembly, and safety information.
- Spare-parts information.
- Production and lifecycle status.
- Reuse, repurposing, remanufacturing, and recycling information.
- Test reports and compliance evidence for authorities.
- Usage-related information, such as charge cycles, environmental conditions, and important events where applicable.
The EU model also uses different access levels. Consumers, authorities, repairers, remanufacturers, recyclers, and other legitimate parties will not necessarily see the same data.
The right information must be available to the right person, at the right time, without exposing commercially sensitive data to everyone.
Which Batteries Are in Scope?
The battery passport obligation from 18 February 2027 applies to:
- Electric-vehicle batteries.
- Light means of transport batteries, including batteries used in e-bikes, e-scooters, e-mopeds, and similar mobility products.
- Industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2 kWh.
Industrial batteries cover a wide range of applications. They may be used in industrial machinery, communication infrastructure, agriculture, energy generation and distribution, home energy storage, logistics equipment, rail, marine applications, aviation, and off-road machinery.
This means the requirement affects far more than vehicle manufacturers.
It can influence companies across the value chain, including:
- Battery-cell manufacturers.
- Battery-pack assemblers.
- Electronics manufacturers.
- BMS and software providers.
- Cable and connector suppliers.
- Metal and enclosure suppliers.
- EV and mobility manufacturers.
- Energy-storage providers.
- Industrial-equipment manufacturers.
- Repair and service companies.
- Logistics providers.
- Reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling businesses.
- Importers and distributors.
If your product contains, uses, supplies, transports, repairs, or depends on batteries, this topic belongs on your management agenda.
The QR Code Is Not the Difficult Part
A QR code is simple to create.
The difficult part is answering the questions behind it.
For one individual battery, can your company reliably show:
- Who placed it on the market?
- Which cells, modules, electronics, and housing parts were used?
- Which suppliers provided those components?
- Which material batch belongs to which production batch?
- Which production order created the battery?
- Which quality and safety tests were completed?
- What was the battery’s original performance level?
- What is its current state of health?
- Which spare parts and repair instructions are approved?
- Can the battery be safely disassembled?
- Is it still original, reused, repurposed, remanufactured, or waste?
- What must happen when it reaches end of life?
If those answers are spread across separate systems, spreadsheets, supplier portals, paper documents, and employee knowledge, the company has a data problem—not a QR-code problem.
The Battery Passport is an ERP, traceability, and data-governance project.
Who Is Responsible?
The main responsibility lies with the economic operator that places the battery on the EU market or puts it into service.
That operator must ensure that the information in the battery passport is accurate, complete, and up to date. The operator may authorise another party to act on its behalf, but the core responsibility remains with the operator placing the battery on the market. EU Batteries Regulation, Article 77
This point is critical.
A battery manufacturer may rely on suppliers for cell specifications, recycled-content declarations, component data, and test certificates. But the final economic operator cannot simply say, “The information came from our supplier.”
The company placing the battery on the market must be able to trust, manage, and maintain the data.
This requires clear internal ownership between product management, engineering, purchasing, quality, production, compliance, service, and IT.
What the Passport Will Achieve
The Battery Passport has an important compliance purpose, but its value reaches much further.
Better Supply-Chain Transparency
Battery value chains are complex. A single battery can involve raw materials, cells, modules, electronics, housing parts, cooling systems, software, packaging, transport, and final assembly.
The passport creates pressure for better supplier data and stronger product traceability.
Companies will need to know more than the supplier name. They will need to understand which components were used, where they came from, which documents support them, and whether the information is current.
Better Quality and Safety Control
A battery passport can connect the product with quality inspections, test reports, safety instructions, and traceability data.
If a defect is discovered, the company can more quickly identify affected serial numbers, production batches, supplier materials, and customer deliveries.
This can make recalls, root-cause analysis, and corrective actions faster and more precise.
Better Repair and Service
Repairers and service providers need accurate technical information.
They may need access to approved spare parts, safety measures, dismantling instructions, battery status, and information about whether the battery can be repaired, reused, repurposed, or remanufactured.
A strong passport system can reduce service time and prevent unsafe repair decisions.
Better Second-Life and Circular Business Models
Batteries may not always be finished when their first use ends.
A battery removed from an electric vehicle may still be useful for stationary energy storage. A battery pack may be repaired, repurposed, remanufactured, or dismantled for recovery of valuable materials.
The EU framework recognises this. When a battery is repurposed or remanufactured and placed on the market again, a new battery passport must be created and linked to the original passport or passports. EU Batteries Regulation, Article 77
This creates new business opportunities—but only for companies that can manage lifecycle data properly.
Better Recycling and Material Recovery
Recyclers need to know what they are receiving.
Battery composition, cell layout, safety information, disassembly requirements, and material details can support safer and more effective recovery processes.
This is especially important because batteries may contain valuable and sensitive materials. Better information can improve handling, reduce risk, and support circular supply chains.
The Data Your Company Needs to Build
Battery passport readiness begins with a structured data model.
The exact fields will depend on the battery type, role in the supply chain, and final technical requirements. However, a strong foundation should include the following areas.
Product and Engineering Data
Your business should have controlled records for:
- Battery model and product family.
- Technical specifications.
- Battery chemistry.
- Rated capacity and energy.
- Voltage and power characteristics.
- Weight and dimensions.
- Intended application.
- Product version and engineering revision.
- Bill of Materials.
- Approved components and alternatives.
- Firmware and battery-management-system version where relevant.
- Product drawings and technical documents.
Supplier and Material Data
Each important material and component should be connected to:
- Approved supplier.
- Supplier location and legal entity.
- Material specification.
- Supplier certificates and declarations.
- Batch, lot, or serial number where applicable.
- Quality documentation.
- Sustainability-related information.
- Delivery and traceability records.
- Approved substitutions or alternatives.
Production and Quality Data
The manufacturing record should connect the individual battery or batch to:
- Production order.
- Assembly line or work centre.
- Date and time of production.
- Operators or production teams where required.
- Material consumption.
- Cell, module, and component traceability.
- Quality-control results.
- Test reports.
- Non-conformities and corrective actions.
- Final release status.
Warehouse and Logistics Data
The system should also show:
- Storage location.
- Inventory status.
- Serial-number movement.
- Shipment history.
- Customer or receiving site.
- Return and warranty history.
- Transport documentation where needed.
- Damage, quarantine, and disposal status.
Lifecycle and Service Data
For a complete lifecycle view, companies should prepare to manage:
- Battery installation and commissioning details.
- State-of-health information where available.
- Charging and discharging history where applicable.
- Maintenance and repair history.
- Safety events and incident records.
- Reuse, repurposing, remanufacturing, or recycling status.
- Transfer of responsibility across lifecycle stages.
From Static Records to Living Product Data
A Battery Passport is not a one-time record created when the battery leaves the factory.
It is a living data object.
Some information is fixed at production, such as battery model, production date, material composition, and original test results. Other information can change over time, including battery state of health, maintenance history, repair actions, lifecycle status, and end-of-life treatment.
That means companies need more than document storage. They need controlled processes for:
- Updating data.
- Validating changes.
- Recording who changed what.
- Protecting sensitive information.
- Preserving historical versions.
- Granting access to the right users.
- Maintaining availability over time.
The Battery Passport must remain trustworthy throughout the battery’s useful life.
How SIX ERP Supports Battery Passport Readiness
SIX ERP can provide the connected operational foundation needed for a Battery Passport strategy.
The platform can bring together the business data required across the battery lifecycle:
- Product master data and technical specifications.
- Bills of Materials and engineering versions.
- Supplier qualification and purchasing records.
- Batch, lot, and serial-number traceability.
- Manufacturing and work-order history.
- Quality inspections and test records.
- Warehouse movements and inventory control.
- Customer deliveries and warranty records.
- Field service and repair history.
- Returns, recycling, and lifecycle status.
- Documents, images, certificates, and declarations.
- User roles, approval workflows, and audit trails.
The ERP does not need to expose all information publicly. Instead, it can act as the internal source of truth from which the right passport data is prepared, validated, published, and updated through a DPP module, API, customer portal, or external registry connection.
The best Battery Passport strategy begins with reliable internal operations.
A Practical Readiness Roadmap
Start With a Scope Assessment
First, determine whether your batteries fall within the passport requirement.
Ask:
- Do we manufacture, import, distribute, or integrate batteries?
- Are they EV batteries, LMT batteries, or industrial batteries above 2 kWh?
- Are we the economic operator placing the battery on the EU market?
- Which customers will expect data before the legal deadline?
- Which suppliers must provide additional information?
Select One Pilot Product
Do not begin with every battery type.
Choose one representative product: a battery pack, industrial battery, e-bike battery, energy-storage battery, or battery-integrated product. Use it to map the full data chain.
Map the Data Journey
Follow the product from supplier to end of life.
Identify every system, document, person, and process that creates battery information. Review the gaps between purchasing, engineering, production, quality, warehouse, service, and recycling processes.
Fix Product and Supplier Master Data
Ensure that product models, components, suppliers, technical documents, and versions are complete and controlled.
A passport cannot be stronger than the underlying master data.
Implement Traceability Where It Matters Most
Not every screw needs the same level of traceability. Focus first on the information required for safety, quality, compliance, performance, repair, and circularity.
Use serial numbers, batches, lots, component tracking, and production records where they create real value.
Define Roles and Approval Rules
Decide who owns:
- Product data.
- Supplier documentation.
- Quality records.
- Passport updates.
- Customer-visible information.
- Repair and lifecycle updates.
- Regulatory submissions.
Test the Full Story
Choose one completed battery and test whether the company can answer the most important questions in minutes—not days.
Can you identify the product? Can you trace its components? Can you show its quality record? Can you identify the customer delivery? Can you explain its repair and recycling path?
If not, the process needs improvement before scaling.
The Biggest Risks of Waiting
Companies that delay preparation may face several problems at once:
- Missing supplier data.
- Unclear material traceability.
- Incomplete Bills of Materials.
- Uncontrolled product versions.
- Weak serial-number tracking.
- Missing quality and test documentation.
- No reliable link between production and delivery.
- Expensive manual data collection.
- Customer pressure before the legal deadline.
- Rushed, disconnected software projects.
The danger is not only non-compliance.
The real danger is becoming operationally unreliable at the moment customers begin demanding transparency.
The Opportunity Behind the Requirement
The Battery Passport can help manufacturers become more trusted, more efficient, and more prepared for circular business models.
It can support:
- Faster recalls and root-cause analysis.
- Better supplier accountability.
- Stronger warranty and service operations.
- Safer repair and dismantling.
- Improved second-life battery opportunities.
- Better recycling and material recovery.
- More credible sustainability information.
- Stronger customer and partner confidence.
Businesses that prepare early will not only be ready for the deadline. They will understand their products better.
Start Before 2027 Becomes Urgent
The Battery Passport deadline is fixed: 18 February 2027.
But readiness cannot begin in February 2027.
It begins with a simple decision: choose one battery product, map the information it needs, and build a connected data trail from supplier to production, customer, service, and end of life.
The companies that win in the battery economy will not only make better batteries. They will manage better information about every battery they place on the market.
SIX ERP helps businesses create the traceable product, supplier, manufacturing, quality, warehouse, and service data that Battery Passport readiness depends on.
Start with one product. Build the chain. Create the operational foundation now—before compliance becomes a last-minute emergency.
