First e-bus battery passports coming in Europe

Turkey headquartered bus and coach manufacturer Temsa is set to be the first e-bus company to implement battery passports.

The implementation of the battery passports, which will be established with blockchain traceability solution provider Minespider, will ensure that Temsa is compliant with the EU’s new battery regulation.

Under the regulation, which came into force in August 2023, battery passports become obligatory for all electric vehicle batteries as well as industrial batteries with capacity greater than 2kWh with effect from February 2027.

“Temsa’s intention is being transparent about the information for the battery packs that are delivered in buses, coaches or even sold as an off the shelf separate product,” says Burak Onur, Head of Electric Powertrain at the company.

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“In that way we can be more confident about the safety and reliability of our battery packs. End-user can access data just by scanning the barcode on the pack and reach to information very quickly.”

Minespider launched its blockchain-based open battery passport in May 2023 following development with a number of companies including Ford Doosan and Renault.

The project with Temsa started in August and includes conducting the battery regulation readiness assessment, integration of the Minespider platform with existing software, setting up the battery passports and then scaling them up throughout Temsa.

A battery passport is in essence an electronic ‘identity’ with technical and other information relating to both the battery model as well as the specific individual battery, including usage data – and including both publicly accessible as well as commercially sensitive restricted access data.

Its purpose it to promote circularity and a passport ceases to exist only after the battery has been recycled.

The EU regulation states the battery passport should be based on a decentralised data system and sets out the information it should contain, enabling it to be offered by multiple operators.

Other companies known to be developing and/or offering battery passports within Europe include Siemens, Dutch solution provider Circularise and German software development company P3, while the global non-profit MOBI also is focussed on developing a global framework and standards.

Minespider also is applying its platform to track minerals such as tin Uganda and copper and cobalt in the DRC and most recently, as winner of ABB’s Motion Services Challenge 2023, plans to co-develop a circularity certificate management tool.