DPPesprThe EU Battery Passport: 2027 Requirements Explained
The battery passport is the first Digital Product Passport to become mandatory, and it sets the template for everything that follows. It comes from the EU Battery Regulation (2023/1542), separate from the general ESPR passport.
Who is in scope
From 18 February 2027, a passport is required for batteries placed on the EU market or put into service in these categories:
- Electric vehicle (EV) batteries
- LMT batteries — light means of transport, such as e-bikes and e-scooters
- Industrial batteries above 2 kWh
Everyday portable cells — AA batteries, phone and laptop batteries — are generally not covered by this obligation.
The big difference: one code per battery
Unlike a textile model, where many identical units can share a single passport, every in-scope battery needs a unique identifier and its own passport. Each physical battery is individually traceable across its life. A QR code is the required data carrier, affixed to the battery itself.
What the passport must hold
- A unique battery identifier and basic identity data
- Chemistry, capacity, and performance and durability information
- Carbon footprint and recycled-content data
- State of health and status (updated over the battery’s life)
- Due-diligence and end-of-life / recycling information
Why it matters beyond batteries
The battery passport is widely treated as the proof-of-concept for the entire EU DPP system. The identification approach, the QR-code data carrier, and the per-unit traceability model are the patterns the later textile, electronics, and furniture rules are expected to follow. Getting comfortable with it now is good preparation for everything after.
How to prepare
For batteries you will use item-level passports — a unique QR per unit. DPPespr.com generates per-unit GS1 Digital Link codes, records each battery’s lifecycle events separately, and hosts the passport pages, so you can pilot a compliant battery passport ahead of 2027.