This is part of a series in which we recap sessions from the 2023 IMDS & Product Chemical Compliance Conference.
What’s the European Union Battery Passport, and what’s being done in the U.S. when it comes to battery regulation? A session at the 2023 IMDS & Product Chemical Compliance Conference titled “EU Battery Passport and U.S.” took a deep dive into these questions.
Brian A. Engle gave the presentation. Engle is Amphenol’s director of business development for electrification. He gave an overview of the EU Battery Passport and how the U.S. is moving forward on developing its own battery regulation. While there is no passport requirement in the U.S. yet, Engle says that’s going to change as we evolve a battery equivalent. Here are the highlights.
EU Battery Regulation
Competing battery initiatives are being established to address material needs in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. The European Union Battery Regulation stands out by requiring more from the industry, including efficient and robust data collection, reputational and financial risks, increased time and resources required, and system interoperability, Engle says.
The EU Battery Directive provides a legal framework for regulating battery technology, manufacturing, use, and recycling/disposal; and the EU Battery Passport is a tool to track battery materials from extraction through recycling.
“The digital Battery Passport will be a core tool to enable the sustainable scaling of battery value chains globally,” Engle says. “While decarbonization and dematerialization are overarching goals of the European Green Deal, more ambitious action from both business and politics is required. Battery Passport is a lighthouse example of using innovation to achieve these goals, support legal implementation, and empower companies to make informed decisions on their supply chains and products.”
However, it will take years to scale fully closed-loop li-ion battery recycling, and many of the detailed elements of the Battery Passport are still being defined, Engle notes. The EU Commission’s European Electronic Exchange System creates transparency along supply and value chains for all stakeholders, and everything that is part of a battery pack is required to be tracked.
Other challenges identified so far include safeguarding trade secrets and ensuring confidentiality; authentication technology and combatting counterfeits; data collection, format protocols, and infrastructure; and responsibility and liability.
What’s Being Done in the U.S.
Engle is chair of the Battery Standards Steering Committee for SAE International (formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers). The U.S.-based, globally active professional association and standards-developing organization has put together a special task force and a committee focused on the Battery Passport.
“We’re covering a lot of aspects of batteries,” Engle notes. “A lot of the standards that exist today do a lot to support the work of the Battery Passport.”
When it comes to traceability, the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation gave the U.S. Battery Passport Content Guidance in December 2023. Engle states, “The U.S. does need an equivalent of the Battery Passport, but it will not be a copy-paste of the European Battery Passport. The U.S. initiative that we're crafting is going to be somewhat different, and those differences are still in development.”
Currently, there are no diagnostics requirements in any regulations for reporting battery health or battery information in the U.S., Engle explains. As the U.S. works to establish a Battery Passport equivalent in the U.S., Engle says it will contain elements of Providence of the raw materials and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, as well as information on ESG and the CO2 footprint of manufacturing.
“In the U.S., we are focused primarily on recovery of the critical raw materials in the battery cells themselves to recycle and reuse them in region,” Engle shares. “It's more likely to be a global traceability index that we're going to build off the Providence carbon tracking and ESG requirements.”
He continues, "What we need to do in the U.S. — that we see as a challenge in Europe — is to make sure that the implementation of these standards and whatever regulation is due to follow is repeatable, consistent, and does not place an undue burden on the industry.”
More work is needed on the state of battery safety, remaining useful life, reporting diagnostics, and critical events. SAE is seeking partners to support its efforts in the U.S. Engle adds, “It certainly will require us at SAE and other industry organizations such as NAATBatt (formerly North American Advanced Technology Battery Consortium) to work very closely with organizations such as AIAG and many of the participating parties to establish what that is going to look like here in the U.S.”
SAVE THE DATE FOR THE 2024 IMDS CONFERENCE
This topic and more will be covered at the 2024 Hybrid IMDS, Product Compliance, & Sustainability Conference from October 15-16, 2024, at Laurel Manor in Livonia, Michigan. Register for the conference here, and register separately for the optional Day 3 training here.
About the Presenter
Brian A. Engle is Amphenol’s director of business development for electrification. He is chair of the SAE International (formerly Society of Automotive Engineers) Battery Standards Steering Committee and the SAE First Responders Task Force. Additionally, Engle is president-elect of NAATBatt (formerly North American Advanced Technology Battery Consortium).