Power battery passports with accurate product data

Electric‑vehicle and energy‑storage demand is exploding, with analysts projecting a global lithium‑ion market worth more than $400 billion by 2030.

To make sure that growth supports the circular economy, legislators now require unprecedented transparency about every cell’s provenance, chemistry, carbon footprint, and circularity. 

A battery passport is a secure digital product passport that travels with each battery from mine to recycling facility, unlocking traceability, safety, and sustainability at scale. 

If you make, import, sell, or service batteries in the EU (or soon, in California and other U.S. states), you will need to generate and continuously update this data‑rich passport.   This requires robust battery data management across your entire organization.

The good news? Much of the required information already lives somewhere in your organization or supply chain. 

The challenge is to collect, enrich, validate, and share it in a format that meets the regulations. That’s where a modern omnichannel PIM such as Inriver becomes mission‑critical.

• What is a battery passport?
• Why are battery passports being mandated?
• What’s included in a battery passport?
• Who’s responsible for creating the battery passport?
• Why product information management (PIM) is key
• Mistakes to avoid
• Battery compliance is an opportunity and Inriver is key

What is a battery passport?

A battery passport is essentially a digital record for battery traceability, telling the story of a battery’s journey. Think of it like a digital passport for people, except this one travels with the battery and contains detailed information about its origin, composition, performance, environmental impact, and end-of-life handling.

The passport usually comes in the form of a QR code or digital tag that can be scanned to reveal relevant information. It’s designed to be accessible to different stakeholders—regulators, customers, recyclers, and manufacturers—each with permission to access specific data. This supply chain transparency helps track sustainable batteries from cradle to grave.

According to the Global Battery Alliance (GBA), a battery passport includes:

• Unique battery ID
• Manufacturer and production details
• Battery materials and components
• Carbon footprint
• Recycled content
• Supply chain traceability
• Safety and performance metrics
• Reuse, repair, and recycling history

Why are battery passports being mandated?

The European Union is leading the charge through the EU Battery Regulation, which came into force in February 2024. According to the law, all industrial and EV batteries over 2 kWh sold in the EU must include a digital battery passport by January 1, 2026. The regulation applies to manufacturers, importers, and distributors alike.

The battery passport is a core component of a broader effort to reduce carbon emissions, ensure responsible sourcing of raw materials, and promote a circular economy. The regulation is part of broader ESG compliance requirements shaping the battery industry.

By making environmental and material data visible and standardized, regulators aim to reduce illegal or unsustainable practices in the battery supply chain.

Beyond Europe, similar efforts are emerging globally. In the U.S., California is developing its version of battery passport requirements, and other states may follow.

Countries like Canada, Japan, and South Korea are also watching closely or beginning to develop their frameworks. Preparing now means you’ll be ready wherever regulations expand next.

What’s included in a battery passport?

Understanding battery compliance means knowing exactly what information must be included to meet compliance under the EU Battery Passport Regulation. Each passport must provide structured, accurate, and accessible data about the battery’s full lifecycle. Here’s a breakdown of the key elements:

• Battery identification
  • Unique battery ID or serial number
  • Manufacturer name and production location
  • Battery type, capacity, and production date
• Material composition
  • Detailed battery chemistry (e.g., lithium-ion, nickel-cobalt-aluminum)
  • List of critical raw materials used
  • Recycled content percentages
  • Country of origin for key materials
• Carbon footprint
  • Total carbon emissions generated during production (from cradle to gate)
  • Assigned carbon footprint class based on EU thresholds
  • Methodology used for calculation
• Performance & safety information
  • Initial capacity and current state of health (SOH)
  • Number of charge/discharge cycles
  • Operating conditions and lifespan estimates
  • Safety instructions for handling, transportation, and storage
• Repair and reuse history
  • Records of maintenance, repairs, and component replacements
  • Refurbishment data if the battery has had a second life
  • Conditions for reuse in other products or markets
• End-of-life & battery recycling data
  • Disassembly instructions for recyclers
  • Materials recovery data (what can be extracted and reused)
  • Final recycling facility and outcomes (if applicable)

Each section of the battery passport plays a role in ensuring traceability, sustainability, and safety across the battery life. According to the regulation, some data will be publicly accessible, while more sensitive information will only be available to authorized stakeholders like repair technicians or recyclers.

With the EU Battery Regulation becoming fully enforceable in 2026, companies must ensure this data is complete, verified, and regularly updated. A robust PIM solution can help centralize and manage complex information flow—making compliance smoother and more efficient.

Who’s responsible for creating the battery passport?

Responsibility ultimately lies with the “economic operator”—usually the company that places the battery on the market. In most cases, that’s the manufacturer or importer ensuring full battery traceability from production to recycling.

However, building a complete battery passport is a shared responsibility across the entire supply chain. Raw material suppliers, battery cell producers, OEMs, repair shops, and recyclers all contribute key information. The challenge lies in collecting this data efficiently and ensuring it’s accurate, up to date, and structured correctly.

This is where product data management becomes helpful and necessary.

Why product information management (PIM) is key

Complying with the EU Battery Regulation is all about managing product data. But for most companies, that data is scattered across systems, teams, and suppliers. A modern PIM solution like Inriver centralizes this information into one place, making it easier to gather, enrich, validate, and share.

Inriver allows you to standardize and automate how product data is collected and maintained. It enables you to create consistent product records, connect with external suppliers, and keep information current throughout the product lifecycle. You can also publish data across multiple channels, including QR codes and EU reporting portals. This streamlined battery data management approach ensures supply chain transparency at every step.

Rather than treating the battery passport as a stand-alone project, Inriver helps integrate compliance into your everyday product data workflows. That’s a long-term advantage as regulations continue to evolve.

Mistakes to avoid

One common misstep is waiting too long. Since the regulation goes into effect in 2026, companies assume they have time. But preparing high-quality, structured product data, especially from multiple supply chain partners—can take months.

Another pitfall is managing passport data manually through spreadsheets or shared folders. While this might work for small product lines, it quickly becomes unmanageable on a scale. Automating through a PIM system improves accuracy and reduces risk.

Don’t forget about repair and recycling data either. Battery passports are living documents, and they must be updated as the battery progresses through its lifecycle. Ignoring these updates could put your company at risk of non-compliance.

Battery compliance is an opportunity and Inriver is key

The battery passport may seem like just another regulation to deal with, but it’s much more than that. It’s a sign of where the industry is headed: toward more transparency, battery traceability, circular economy practices and smarter product data management.

Companies that treat compliance as part of their overall product strategy stand to gain more than just regulatory approval. By building strong, flexible systems for managing product data, you can bring new products to market faster, earn greater trust from your customers, and streamline your operations across regions and partners.

At Inriver, we make this process easier. Our Product Information Management (PIM) platform helps you organize all your product data in one place, keep it accurate and up to date, and share it easily with the people and systems that need it—including battery passport platforms and government databases.

With the right tools, you can keep ahead of regulations.

Start preparing now. By following best practices and putting the right systems in place, you can make battery passport compliance a smooth process and position your business for long-term success in a more connected, sustainable world.