ELECTRIC CARS NEED TO HAVE A 'BATTERY PASSPORT' FROM 2027 TO SHOW CARBON FOOTPRINT AND ONE BRAND ALREADY HAS THEM

Electric vehicles will soon need to have their own 'battery passports' to prove the origins of the raw material they contain, how much of the content is recycled and their lifecycle carbon footprint, including production and transportation. 

From 2027, any new EV sold in the EU will require one - but one mainstream car brand has already introduced battery passports for its latest model.

Volvo Cars has already launched the 'world's first EV battery passport' for its flagship EX90 SUV, which is due to start production in the US.

The passport has been developed in-house by Volvo, which is owned by China's Geely, in partnership with UK startup Circulor.

It uses blockchain technology to map supply chains for companies and took over five years to develop.

Battery passports will be mandatory for all EVs sold in the European Union - and the UK - from February 2027.

It will show the composition of batteries, including the origin of key materials, their carbon footprint and recycled content.

Volvo's head of global sustainability Vanessa Butani told Reuters that introducing the passport nearly three years before regulations kick in was aimed at being transparent with car buyers as the automaker targets producing only fully-electric cars by 2030.

'It's really important for us to be a pioneer and a leader,' Butani said.

The EX90 SUV is the brand's largest - and priciest - electric SUV, starting from £95,400 in the UK.

It will offer a range of up to 364 miles between charges, which will take around half an hour to boost the battery from 10 per cent to 80 per cent thanks to its 250kW charging capabilities. 

Volvo has already said it will become the safest car it makes as it will debut a system that monitors drivers using cameras and sensors to detect if they are falling asleep, drunk or overly distracted while at the wheel.

A suite of eight cameras, five radars, 16 ultrasonic sensors, and a cutting-edge 'lidar' system will create 'an invisible 360-degree shield of safety' that the Swedish maker believes can cut severe road accidents by up to a fifth.

While these are designed to alert motorists to potential dangers around them, it will also have two interior cameras, a posture sensor and touch-sensitive steering wheel to permanently monitor drivers to gauge if they are drowsy, ill or looking at their phone while at the wheel.

And, if a motorist is unresponsive to a series of alerts, it can takeover control of the vehicle and bring it to a stop if it thinks a crash could be imminent.

Thomas Broberg, who heads Volvo's Safety Centre, says interior sensing is 'one of the next safety frontiers' in the automotive sector. 

But as well as being safe, the EX90 will also be the first to feature a unique passport for the 111kWh battery once the first models roll off Volvo's production line in Charleston, South Carolina, ahead of deliveries later this year.

Volvo owners can access a simplified version of the passport using a QR code on the inside of the driver's door.

Butani said the passport would be gradually rolled out to all of Volvo's EVs.

A more complete version of the passport will be passed to regulators.

It will also include up-to-date information on the EV battery's state of health - vital for assessing used EV values - for 15 years and will Volvo cost around $10 (around £8) per car, Circulor CEO Douglas Johnson-Poensgen told Reuters.

Circulor's system traces battery materials from the mine to individual cars, piggybacking on suppliers' production systems to track materials throughout the supply chain and checking suppliers' monthly energy bills - and how much of their energy comes from renewable sources in order to calculate a total carbon footprint.

If Volvo brings on board a supplier, Circulor will need to audit it to keep information current, Johnson-Poensgen said.

The passport has also required changes in how Volvo traces parts through its manufacturing process to understand the origins of every part in every vehicle.

'Car manufacturing has never been about which rock went into which component and which got connected to which car,' Johnson-Poensgen said. 'It's taken a long time to figure that out.'

According to the Battery Regulation, every passport must contain an identification number unique to that battery so it can be tracked during its lifecycle.

This will contain basic information such as the type of battery and statistics on performance and durability, which must also be updated by parties conducting repair or repurposing the battery if removed from the vehicle.

Data stored in the passport will also contain the carbon intensity of their manufacturing processes, the origin of the materials used and whether they are renewable and which hazardous chemicals they contain.

2024-06-05T12:43:58Z dg43tfdfdgfd