Cell-level Battery Passport – from Concept to a Europe-wide Trial in a Kia EV3
Background
The Global Battery Alliance (GBA) was launched in 2016 to establish a sustainable battery value chain by 2030. In July 2023, to support this initiative and to provide common standards across the EU market, the European Battery Regulation (Regulation 2023/1542)1 was approved by the European Council. This regulation requires all new electric vehicles (xEV) and industrial-use batteries with a capacity over 2 kWh in the EU market to have a unique battery passport by 1st February 2027. In January 2025, the DIN DKE SPEC 99100 standard was introduced to define the “Requirements for Data Attributes of the Battery Passport.” This standard outlines the data to be included in the digital battery passport, based on the requirements of the EU Battery Regulation, along with voluntary additions.
Challenge
Businesses face several challenges when preparing to provide Battery Passport information; one contributing factor is the requirement to include more than 100 data attributes. These include static data about the battery, its producer, material composition, and recycled content, as well as dynamic data, such as State of Charge (SoC) and State of Health (SoH). SoH is critical for the safe and effective lifecycle management of electric vehicle and energy storage batteries. To learn more about the importance of SoH, refer to Dukosi’s white paper: The Powerhouse Behind the Battery Passport2.
However, the DIN DKE SPEC 99100 regulation only requires the battery’s overall SoH to be recorded, not the SoH of individual cells within it. As a result, the entire battery, including its BMS electronics, must remain intact for the SoH to remain valid. If a cell or its BMS is removed, the battery’s SoH becomes invalid, limiting the ability to perform maintenance or to reuse the battery in second-life applications.
Solution
When Dukosi Cell Monitors3 are installed on each individual cell within a battery, they are capable of storing cell-level SoH data on-chip. This elevates each cell to the status of an independent component that can be individually analyzed and maintained. The battery’s BMS can still record battery-level SoH to ensure regulatory compliance. However, access to more detailed insights unlocks greater sustainability potential, as cells can be extracted from the original battery at the end of its application life cycle. When cell-level SoH data is read as part of a streamlined grading process, it enables the cells to be easily reused in a new battery designed specifically for a next-life application. This supports a circular economy in ways the battery passport alone does not.
Image courtesy of Kia-Europe4
Cell-level Battery Passport – Europe-wide Trial
The Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center (HMETC), Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) commissioned a trial project with the primary objective of better understanding the necessary actions required to implement a Battery Passport, and the opportunities it presents for data sharing among multiple stakeholders in a real-life test.
HMETC, who were responsible for the technical environment of the pilot, selected Dukosi Cell Monitors to store the digital information of the cell passports. Mobis provided an infotainment system that connected to and displayed the information stored in the cells, while Kia Europe* contributed supply chain information. A trial was performed in collaboration with the EU-funded DATAPIPE project5, as well as ARN (the Dutch producer responsibility organization for the end-of-life treatment of cars and their EV batteries) to evaluate potential future uses and benefits of Battery Passport data. To access the battery passport data collected during the trial, a data-sharing pilot environment developed by TNO was utilized.
Hyundai-Kia Motor Group, in partnership with Dukosi, retrofitted a Kia EV3’s battery with Dukosi Cell Monitors. Each Dukosi Cell Monitor operates with a unique identifier and provides cell-level data storage that holds both static and dynamic data, including the State of Health (SoH). The Dukosi Cell Monitors are connected via single bus antenna using Dukosi C-SynQ® proprietary communications protocol to a Dukosi System Hub. This hub routes the data to the modified infotainment system, where the cell data can be viewed and transmitted to cloud services. Once stored in cloud services, the safety and durability status can be reviewed in a read-only format. As such, the cell-level data cannot be altered remotely, which provides the Battery Passport data with a high level of security and ensures trust in its integrity.
*Kia Europe Press Release: https://www.kiapressoffice.com/releases/1890
Case Study
About Dukosi
Dukosi develops revolutionary technologies that dramatically improve the performance, safety, and efficiency of battery systems, and enable a more sustainable battery value chain. The company provides a unique cell monitoring solution based on chip-on-cell technology and C-SynQ® communications protocol for electric vehicles (EV), industrial transportation and stationary energy storage markets. Headquartered in Edinburgh, UK, Dukosi has a global footprint with locations in USA, Asia and Europe. For more information, please visit www.dukosi.com.
About Kia Europe
Kia Europe is the European sales and manufacturing division of Kia Corporation – a global mobility brand that is creating innovative, pioneering, and leading sustainable mobility solutions for consumers, communities, and societies around the world. As a Sustainable Mobility Solutions Provider, Kia is spearheading the popularization of electrified and battery electric vehicles and developing a growing range of mobility services, encouraging people around the world to explore the best ways of getting around.
HMETC (Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center) is part of the world-renowned Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands, and it is the company’s sole research and development center in Europe. The purpose of HMETC is to make sure that every car meets the demanding standards of the European customer and is adapted to the needs of that specific market. With the fast progress in network and technology, we strive to create the best possible solutions for a better future.
About ARN
ARN has been the driving force behind car recycling in the Netherlands for over 30 years. We facilitate, we report, and we are at the heart of a network of importers, car-dismantling companies, shredding companies, and recycling companies.ARN collaborates with the entire recycling chain of vehicles and vehicle batteries, facilitates the implementation of producer responsibility, initiates where necessary, and innovates to continue meeting recycling goals in the future.
About Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
TU Delft is one of the world’s leading research universities. Delft consistently ranks very high among institutions of higher education globally. While no absolute value can be attached to such rankings, they provide an indication of the outstanding reputation TU Delft enjoys. More information: https://www.tudelft.nl/en/
About TNO
TNO is the largest independent research and technology organization in the Netherlands and one of the largest in the EU. We collaborate with governments, universities, and the private sector to innovate, investigate, and orchestrate. By building consortia and ecosystems, we drive breakthroughs that contribute to a secure, sustainable, healthy, and digital society, while also boosting the Dutch economy. More information: Innovation for life | TNO
- https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1542/oj/eng ↩︎
- https://www.dukosi.com/blog/battery-state-of-health-soh-the-powerhouse-behind-the-battery-passport ↩︎
- https://www.dukosi.com/dkcms-core ↩︎
- https://www.kiapressoffice.com/releases/1890 ↩︎
- https://www.tudelft.nl/tbm/onderzoek/projecten/datapipe-project ↩︎