The European Union will soon require passports for electric cars
It’s a headline that will no doubt make conspiracy theorists cringe. A pass for electric cars. Well, for the EV batteries it contains. The European Union wants to make it mandatory soon.
Britain’s Autocar reports that battery passports will become mandatory for electric cars from February 2027, but that’s less bad than it sounds.
European Union idea behind the passport for batteries
The aim of the European Union is to provide more knowledge about what the specific battery is made of and how harmful its production is to the environment. Scanning a QR code or looking up the VIN should reveal production information about the battery.
This is about more than just a summary of the amount of lithium, cobalt or nickel used. Your electric car’s passport must also state where these raw materials come from. In this way, almost the entire production process must be traceable. It must also be possible to see how much CO2 is released.
Electric vehicle manufacturers can make better decisions
Electric car manufacturers get access to all this information about the battery. The extraction of raw materials such as cobalt raises ethical problems. According to the European Union, the electric vehicle battery passport will allow manufacturers to make more sustainable choices.
Useful for electric car buyers
The battery pass offers other advantages. The condition of the battery is also noted in the passport. As a used car buyer, you can also look through part of the passport. This way you can recognize the condition of the battery and prevent a bad purchase. Practical, because a defective battery (and the associated high repair or replacement costs) is currently still a big problem for people thinking about a used electric car.
It is not yet clear what information exactly should be included in the electric vehicle battery passport. In order to further develop the battery pass, the European Union has set up a special project group in which BMW and Audi, among others, are taking part.