Battery passport 2027: what it changes for used cars

What the battery passport is

The battery passport is an electronic record linked to one specific battery. It is created by the manufacturer or importer that places the battery on the market, and it is accessed through a QR code on the battery, which points to a unique identifier.

Three categories of batteries are covered:

• batteries in electric and hybrid cars, as well as those in electric two-wheelers and quadricycles weighing more than 25 kg;
• LMT batteries (light means of transport) of 25 kg or less: e-bikes, e-scooters, electric mopeds;
• industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2 kWh.

The date of 18 February 2027 has not been postponed. Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 pushed back another obligation in the same text, due diligence on raw materials, to 18 August 2027, without touching the passport.

What it contains, and who can read it

The regulation splits the passport’s information into four levels of access.

• For everyone, information about the battery model: chemical composition, rated capacity, expected lifetime in cycles, the capacity at which the battery is considered to have reached the end of its life, length of the commercial warranty, carbon footprint, share of recycled content.
• For persons with a legitimate interest, further information about the model: detailed composition, part numbers, dismantling sequences and safety measures. It is used by repairers and for remanufacturing, second life and recycling.
• For market surveillance authorities and the Commission, the test reports that prove compliance.
• For persons with a legitimate interest, and them alone, the data specific to that particular battery: its performance when its status changes, and its state of health.

In other words, a buyer who scans a car’s QR code will learn the model’s chemistry and original capacity, not what is left of the battery in front of them.

Why today’s used cars won’t have one

What triggers the obligation is the placing of the battery on the market, not the sale of the vehicle. A battery fitted to a car sold new before 18 February 2027 is not covered, and reselling that car changes nothing.

The entire current used car fleet is therefore outside the scope of the passport. The first cars to have one will reach the used market when models sold new from 2027 onwards are resold. Until then, and for these cars for a long time to come, state of health is assessed in other ways.

What you can already get

Another article of the same regulation, already in force, matters more for used cars. Since 18 August 2024, electric car batteries have had to keep up to date, in their battery management system, the parameters used to determine their state of health.

Read-only access to this data is open at any time, on a non-discriminatory basis, to the person who legally purchased the battery and to any third party acting on their behalf, in particular to assess its residual value or remaining lifetime.

This is what allows independent measuring tools to read the state of health without going through the manufacturer. For a used car, the approach is the same as before the passport: have the battery measured, and failing that, estimate its state of health from its age, mileage and chemistry.

Outside the European Union

The battery passport comes from an EU regulation. Since leaving the European Union, Great Britain has not been required to apply it: a car sold in Great Britain does not need to have one.

What sohpass is not

Despite its name, sohpass issues neither battery passports nor state-of-health certificates, and has no access to any vehicle. The site estimates the expected state of health of a comparable battery and checks its manufacturer warranty; only a measurement on the car gives a figure.