Create an EU battery passport

Which batteries need a passport

Under Art. 77(1) of the Batteries Regulation, from 18 February 2027 every battery placed on the market or put into service needs a battery passport if it is:

• an LMT battery, for light means of transport such as e-bikes and e-scooters, regardless of capacity
• an industrial battery with a capacity above 2 kWh
• an electric vehicle battery

Portable and SLI (starter) batteries need no passport, but from the same date they carry a QR code that leads to their required information (Art. 13(6)).

What the public can see

Annex XIII point 1 lists the battery model data open to everyone:

• Label data from Annex VI Part A: manufacturer, category, place and date of manufacture, weight, capacity, chemistry, hazardous substances, extinguishing agent and critical raw materials above 0.1 % by weight
• Origin and environment: material composition, carbon footprint, due diligence report, recycled content, renewable content
• Performance and durability: rated capacity, voltages, power, expected lifetime in cycles with the reference test, temperature range, warranty, round-trip efficiency, internal resistance, C-rate; for EV batteries the capacity threshold for exhaustion
• Conformity: markings under Art. 13, the EU declaration of conformity and take-back and recycling information under Art. 74

What only authorised parties may see

• Point 2, persons with a legitimate interest and the Commission: detailed cathode, anode and electrolyte composition, part numbers and spare part sources, dismantling information, safety measures
• Point 3, notified bodies, market surveillance and the Commission only: test reports
• Point 4, per individual battery: performance values, state of health, status (original, re-used, repurposed, remanufactured or waste) and usage data such as charge cycles

An implementing act under Art. 77(9) defines who counts as having a legitimate interest. Passwerk publishes point 1 only and shows a contact for the rest. It does not build access control.

QR code and unique identifier

The passport is reached through the QR code, which links to a unique identifier compliant with ISO/IEC 15459 parts 1 to 6 (Art. 77(3)). GS1 is an issuing agency under that series, so a GTIN with a serial number meets the requirement. Passwerk publishes each page at a GS1 Digital Link path, /01/<GTIN>/21/<serial>/, and draws the QR code with error correction level M and a quiet zone.

Requirements for the system

Art. 77(5) asks for open standards and a machine-readable, structured, searchable format without vendor lock-in. Passwerk writes the data as JSON and as a schema.org Product inside each page; the files live in your repository. Art. 78 adds free access and that the passport stays available if your company stops trading. A GitHub account alone does not guarantee the last point, so mirror the pages on your own domain.

Create the passport with Passwerk

1. Open the editor (German interface) and pick the battery template.
2. Fill in the fields or let Claude read the datasheet. Each AI suggestion stays marked until you change it.
3. Download the JSON file and put it in passports/ in your fork.
4. After the push, GitHub Actions builds the pages. Each serial number gets its qr.svg next to its page.