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German consortium launches project Battery Pass to support EU circular battery data

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Umicore is part of a consortium of German world-class leaders and market drivers, from industry and science, that is launching today the project ‘Battery Pass’. To celebrate the hand-over of the grant agreement to the consortium, the parliamentary state secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action BMWK (BMWK), Michael Kellner, invited consortium members and press into the ministry, followed by a hybrid press talk. 

Thanks to the BMWK funding, the project will provide a comprehensive solution for securely sharing information and data across different organizations and value-chain participants in the field of traction batteries, based on mandatory standard datasets and an interoperable technical implementation approach. 


Eleven consortium members are combining their forces

The Battery Pass project, led by system change company SYSTEMIQ GmbH, comprises eleven consortium partners – global organizations from relevant industries, research institutions and academies as well as providers of digital services in open standards, battery analysis and tracking: acatech - Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften, AUDI AG, BASF SE, BMW AG, Circulor GmbH, FIWARE Foundation e.V., Fraunhofer IPK, SYSTEMIQ GmbH, TWAICE Technologies GmbH, Umicore AG & Co KG, VDE Renewables GmbH (through subcontracting). As of today, associated partners include the Global Battery Alliance (GBA), GS1 Germany GmbH, RWE Generation SE, to name but a few. 

The parliamentary state secretary, Michael Kellner, explained: "Sustainable batteries are a key element for environmentally, socially and climate-friendly electromobility. With the digital Battery Pass, we are getting a big step closer to this goal: Important data, such as the climate footprint or information on the conditions of raw material extraction, repairability and recyclability, will be securely stored in it and exchanged among the economic actors along the battery value chain - from raw material extraction to reuse and recycling. This creates transparency around the electric car battery”.


The compelling benefits of this project

The project’s objective is the complement of work of the Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland (CEID) while aiming to collaborate with further partners like Global Battery Alliance (GBA), Catena-X for the development of a system for cross-value chain data transfer, and Gaia-X for standards from the European cloud initiative. The proposed applications for EU battery passport implementations will demonstrate to the market another innovative approach of cross-industry content and technical standards for the harmonization and implementation of battery passports.

The new system is set to be used in the automotive industry and to introduce an integrated standard for secure and agile data management. Over the next three years, the consortium will:

  • develop proposals for detailed content and technical approaches for the EU battery passport,
  • analyze their feasibility in software and physical demonstrators; and
  • demonstrate the concept’s business and public value. 


The findings will have the potential to pave the way for further product passports and economic sectors beyond the automotive one.            


Battery Pass’s sustainable impact on the EU battery passport ecosystem - and beyond

Battery Pass provides foundations for digital infrastructures for its documentation, the exchange of basic information and update-relevant technical data - in particular, data that comprehensively describes supply-chain accountability, such as greenhouse gas footprint, working conditions in raw material extraction, or the determination of battery conditions. Designed to support the development of EU battery passports (as legally mandated by the EU Battery Regulation starting in 2026), the project’s focus is firmly locked into the EU ecosystem, and beyond. Ultimately, it aims to support global sustainable and circular battery value chains and drive a transformation in such important areas as climate protection, energy and the circular economy. 

“Data-enabled lifecycle management of vehicle batteries is central to strengthen the effectiveness of the EU battery and automotive industry. It will not only accelerate the scaling of the number of electric vehicles, but will also ensure a productive and environmentally sound use of valuable vehicle traction batteries. This will help EU nations and companies to achieve their climate targets, generate high-quality jobs and reduce import dependencies”, added Tilmann Vahle, SYSTEMIQ’s Circular Mobility Platform Lead.

Battery Pass will considerably contribute to the calculation of the mandatory CO2 footprint of a battery, to the control and assessment of hazardous substances, and will enable the improvement of batteries’ life-cycle impacts and costs. The development of the Battery Pass will help to reach meaningful goals in energy supply and circular economy and successfully meet the EU’s Fit for 55 climate-aligned industry strategy and the UN Global Goals.


About the Project Grant Agreement  

This project receives funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action by resolution of the German Bundestag under grant agreement No BZF335.

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