Chinese battery producers have begun implementing measures to brace for the looming EU's battery passport scheme, which is scheduled to take effect in February 2027.
"The EU's new battery regulations are no longer an optional choice for the industry but have become an entry permit for Chinese battery companies to integrate into the global market," Liang Rui, vice president of major Chinese battery producer Sunwoda, told delegates at the 10th International Summit on Battery Applications held on 16 November.
The EU announced in July 2023 that it will require electric vehicle (EV) and industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2kWh placed on the EU market to be electronically registered from 18 February 2027. This registration will take the form of a battery passport featuring an identification QR code and CE marking.
The passport is a mandatory digital system designed to leverage digitalisation in steering the battery industry toward a more transparent, circular, and low-carbon future. With the passport, EV or energy storage consumers can clearly understand a battery's history and current status, including its environmental compliance and whether it originates from a responsible supply chain.
But this requirement means that battery and EV companies, especially those in China, will face more compliance pressures and higher associated costs in the short term. This will also force Chinese battery firms to enhance environmental competitiveness and transform towards high-quality development.
The regulation poses a systematic challenge for battery companies because it involves supply chain traceability management, compliance due diligence, improvement of recycled material utilisation rates, and implementation of carbon footprint certification, Liang said.
Sunwoda established a special project team dedicated to the battery passport policy in November 2023 to ensure its European market operations remain unaffected after the new regulations take effect in 2027.
Liang also highlighted that the industry continues to face challenges in complying with the EU's new regulations, including an underdeveloped system for carbon footprint accounting and certification, coupled with issues concerning data transfer and confidentiality.
"Battery companies cannot achieve this goal alone, as leading global automotive customers have set a clear requirement that full life-cycle carbon emissions of power batteries must not exceed 25kg/kWh, although the reality is that upstream supply chain processes account for as much as 80pc of the total carbon footprint," Liang noted.
Sunwoda is seeking to collaborate with partners across the entire industrial chain to advance energy conservation and carbon reduction through technological empowerment and jointly established standards.
It shipped 16GWh and 8.9GWh of power and energy storage batteries in the first half of this year, up by 93pc and 133pc respectively from the same period in 2024.
Other major Chinese battery companies such as CATL and BYD are also adapting to the new regulation by accelerating the establishment of a green evaluation standard system for battery products and conducting research on methodology and standards for battery carbon footprint.
The EU is one of the major export markets for Chinese battery suppliers. China exported a total of 1.05mn t of lithium-ion batteries to Europe in 2024, accounting for 35pc of China's total battery exports that year, customs data show.
