From 18 February 2027, every electric-car battery placed on the EU market has to carry a QR code that opens a digital battery passport. Scan it and you get the battery's chemistry, where its raw materials came from, its carbon footprint, how much recycled content it contains and how healthy it currently is. The rule comes from Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, the EU battery regulation, and it is one of the more consequential pieces of EV law that most owners have never heard of.
What is actually in scope
The passport requirement covers EV batteries, light-means-of-transport batteries (e-bikes, scooters) and industrial batteries above 2 kWh, placed on the EU market or put into service. Each one gets a unique identifier, a QR code and CE marking. The obligation sits with whoever places the battery on the market — in practice the manufacturer.
| The passport must carry |
|---|
| Chemical composition and origin of raw materials |
| Declared carbon footprint |
| Expected lifespan and performance |
| Recycled content |
| Handling and recycling instructions |
| Traceability data and a unique identification code |
Not everyone sees the same data
The regulation sets up three tiers of access rather than one public dump. Some fields are public to anyone who scans the code. Some are restricted to authorities. A third tier is reserved for parties with a legitimate interest — independent repairers, recyclers and second-life operators — who get the detail they need to work on the pack rather than replace it.
Article 14 is the part with the sharpest practical edge. It requires manufacturers to give independent operators access to battery management system data — state of health, expected lifetime and remaining capacity — through the on-board diagnostic port. Today that data is largely the carmaker's to release or withhold, which is why independent battery health assessment has been a cottage industry of workarounds.
Why this changes Europe's used-EV market
The single biggest unknown when buying a used electric car is the state of the battery, and the current answer is a mix of estimates, third-party test devices and trust. From February 2027 there is a defined, standardised place to look.
That has knock-on effects. Residual values on used EVs have been volatile partly because the risk is unmeasurable — a buyer discounts what they cannot verify. Dealer confidence in used EVs has been recovering, as TeslAnt reported in the four-year high in dealer sentiment, and a verifiable state-of-health figure removes one of the last structural reasons for a blanket discount. It also makes repair a more realistic option than replacement, because a repairer can see which modules are failing.
Europe is not alone in moving here. China has been building its own battery health standard, covered in the GB/T battery health rules, which points at the same destination from a different regulatory tradition.
What to do about it now
Nothing, if you are buying new — cars delivered after February 2027 will simply have it. If you are buying used before then, the passport is not yet a fallback, so an independent battery health check is still worth its cost. And if you are holding a car you intend to sell in 2027 or later, be aware the market is about to get better at telling the difference between a well-treated pack and a badly treated one.