Battery State of Health (SoH): The Powerhouse Behind the Battery Passport

High power lithium-ion batteries are a key part of a clean energy future, providing temporary storage for renewable energy, and for powering electric vehicles. Lifecycle management, ensuring sustainability of the battery supply chain and a circular economy for critical battery minerals, are paramount for supporting this vision.

In 2016, the World Economic Forum launched the Global Battery Alliance (GBA) to establish a sustainable battery value chain by 2030. In initiating its work, the GBA conceived of a digital twin for batteries, called a battery passport. The purpose of the battery passport is to support sharing of battery supply chain data and information about what happens to a battery during its lifetime to ensure responsible environmental, social and governance aspects in the supply chain, and recovery and reuse of battery materials once it reaches end of life.

In 2023, to support this and to provide common standards across the EU market, the European (EU) Battery Regulation (Regulation 2023/1542) was approved by the European Council, with a requirement for all new electric vehicle (EV) and industrial batteries (over 2 kWh) in the EU market to have a unique battery passport by 1st February 2027. Following on from the EU Battery Regulation, other regions, including China and the USA, are developing their own versions of the battery passport.

To fully assess the EU Battery Regulation, and to advise and prepare stakeholders, the German government and the European Commission established The German Battery Pass Consortium (the Battery Pass). The Battery Pass provides comprehensive guidelines on all aspects of the battery passport for securely sharing information along the battery value chain in accordance with the EU Battery Regulation.

In the Battery Pass content guidance document “Battery Passport: Data Attribute Longlist”, there are a number of categories that specify attributes for inclusion in the battery passport. In the Performance and Durability category, several of these attributes relate to battery State of Health (SoH).

This paper examines why battery SoH is critical for safe and effective lifecycle management of electric vehicle and energy storage batteries, to which stakeholders it applies, and the newest technological innovation that makes producing and sharing this data with all these stakeholders, and thus regulatory compliance, seamless.