Drivers face a new mandatory ‘passport’ rule and it will cost £8

A new ‘passport’ for electric car batteries is being launched to meet strict net zero rules in the European Union. Volvo is set to become the first carmaker to introduce the first ‘battery passport for electric vehicles’, in a move that could be introduced in the UK.

Passport will first launch with its flagship EX90 electric SUV, which will begin production in the coming months. According to Circulor CEO Douglas Johnson-Poensgen, the passport will include up-to-date information on EV battery health and will cost manufacturers $10 (£7.88) per car.

Volvo’s head of global sustainability, Vanessa Butani, told Reuters that Volvo introduced the passport nearly three years before it was needed because the automaker wants to be transparent with car buyers as it pursues a transition to all electric vehicles by in 2030. “It’s really important for us to be a pioneer and a leader,” Butani said, adding that the passport will be gradually rolled out for all Volvo electric vehicles.

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It took Volvo more than five years to develop the passport in partnership with British startup Circulor, which uses blockchain technology to map supply chains for companies. Battery passports will be mandatory for electric vehicles (EVs) sold in the European Union from February 2027, showing the composition of batteries, including the origin of key materials, their carbon footprint and recycled content.

“It’s really important for us to be a pioneer and a leader,” Butani said. It will also include up-to-date information on the health of the EV’s battery – vital for assessing the values ​​of used electric vehicles – for 15 years and will cost Volvo around $10 per car, said Circulor’s managing director Douglas Johnson – Poensgen, for Reuters.

“Making cars has never been about which rock went into which component and which was connected to which car,” Johnson-Poensgen said. “It took a long time to figure it out.”