Battery passport for electric vehicles
From 18 February 2027, every electric vehicle battery placed on the market or put into service in the European Union must have a digital battery passport (Article 77 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542). This page explains who must create and maintain that passport, which electric car batteries are in scope, and what the vehicle's buyer sees when scanning the QR code.
An obligation for businesses, not for consumers
A consumer who buys an electric car has nothing to do. The obligation lies with the economic operator that places the battery on the market: the battery manufacturer, the vehicle manufacturer, the importer, or the business intermediary acting on their behalf. The consumer reads the passport but does not fill it in.
Which electric vehicle batteries are in scope?
What the Regulation calls an "electric vehicle battery"
The Regulation covers batteries specifically designed to provide traction to hybrid or electric vehicles of categories M, N and O: cars, vans, trucks, buses and trailers. It also covers category L vehicles, such as motorcycles and scooters, when the battery weighs more than 25 kg (Article 3, point 14). A traction battery of 25 kg or less for a two-wheeler is a light means of transport (LMT) battery. LMT batteries also need a battery passport.
Deadline: 18 February 2027
From 18 February 2027, a battery passport is mandatory for every electric vehicle battery, every LMT battery and every industrial battery above 2 kWh placed on the market or put into service (Article 77(1)). The Regulation also covers batteries built into a vehicle, whether produced in the Union or imported.
A QR code on every battery
From the same date, every battery must carry a QR code (Article 13(6)). For an electric vehicle battery, that QR code leads to the battery passport, through a unique identifier assigned by the economic operator placing the battery on the market (Article 77(3)).
Who must create and maintain the battery passport?
The battery or vehicle manufacturer
The manufacturer is whoever makes the battery, or has it designed or made, and markets it under its own name or trademark. Depending on how the supply chain is organised, this can be the battery maker or the car manufacturer. The operator placing the battery on the market must ensure that the passport's information is accurate, complete and up to date (Article 77(4)).
The importer
For a battery from a third country, including one already fitted in a vehicle, the importer established in the Union places it on the market. The importer therefore carries the battery passport obligations for the batteries it brings onto the EU market.
The B2B intermediary acting on their behalf
The responsible operator may authorise another operator in writing to act on its behalf (Article 77(4)), such as a service provider, distributor or data platform. That operator may not sell or reuse the data beyond the service it provides (Article 78). Responsibility stays with the operator that placed the battery on the market.
Re-use, repurposing and remanufacturing
An electric vehicle battery can be refurbished or repurposed, for example as stationary storage. It then gets a new battery passport, linked to the original one, and responsibility moves to the operator that places it on the market again (Article 77(7)). The passport ceases to exist once the battery has been recycled (Article 77(8)).
What the buyer of an electric car sees
Scanning the battery's QR code
The passport is free to access (Article 78): scanning the battery's QR code is enough, with no account required. The buyer, a garage or anyone interested can see the public information about the battery model.
Public data about the battery model
The publicly accessible information (Annex XIII, point 1) includes the manufacturer, chemistry and hazardous substances, carbon footprint, recycled content, capacity, expected lifetime in cycles, commercial warranty period and, for electric vehicle batteries only, the end-of-life capacity threshold.
Restricted data
The rest of the passport is not public. Detailed composition, dismantling information and safety measures are restricted to persons with a legitimate interest, such as repairers, remanufacturers and recyclers. The same applies to each battery's own data: state of health, status, charge cycles and accidents. Test results are restricted to the authorities (Annex XIII, points 2 to 4).
What about the battery's state of health?
Separately from the passport, the Regulation gives the person who lawfully bought the battery, or a third party acting on their behalf, read-only access to state-of-health and expected-lifetime data. That access goes through the battery management system, not the public passport page (Article 14). Its purposes include assessing the battery's residual value.
Our reading of the Regulation, not legal advice
This page summarises Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 as consolidated on 13 August 2026. It does not replace a legal analysis of your situation. Which operator is responsible depends on how your supply chain is organised.