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Volvo to release world's very first EV battery passport ahead of EU rules

Volvo Cars is introducing the world's very first EV battery passport tape-recording the origins of raw products, components, recycled content and carbon footprint for its flagship EX90 SUV, which will start production, the Swedish car manufacturer informed .

The passport was established by Volvo, which is owned by China's Geely, in collaboration with UK startup Circulor, which uses blockchain technology to map supply chains for business, and took over five years to establish.

Battery passports will be necessary for electric cars ( EVs) offered in the European Union from February 2027 showing the structure of batteries, including the origin of crucial products, their carbon footprint and recycled content.

Volvo's head of global sustainability Vanessa Butani told that presenting the passport nearly 3 years before policies begin was targeted at being transparent with vehicle buyers as the automaker targets producing only fully-electric cars and trucks by 2030.

It's actually important for us to be a pioneer and a leader, Butani stated.

The EX90 SUV with a battery passport is because of start production quickly at Volvo's plant in Charleston, South Carolina, and will be provided to clients in Europe and North America from the second half of the year.

Volvo owners can access a simplified version of the passport utilizing a QR code on the inside of the driver's door.

Butani stated the passport would be slowly presented to all of Volvo's EVs.

A more total variation of the passport will be passed to regulators.

It will also include updated information on the EV battery's state of health - important for evaluating utilized EV values - for 15 years and will Volvo cost around $10 per automobile, Circulor CEO Douglas Johnson-Poensgen informed .

Circulor's system traces battery products from the mine to specific automobiles, piggybacking on providers' production systems to track materials throughout the supply chain and checking providers' monthly energy bills - and just how much of their energy comes from renewable sources in order to calculate a total carbon footprint.

If Volvo employs a provider, Circulor will require to audit it to keep info existing, Johnson-Poensgen said.

The passport has also required modifications in how Volvo traces parts through its manufacturing process to understand the origins of every part in every lorry.

Cars and truck manufacturing has actually never ever been about which rock went into which element and which got connected to which car, Johnson-Poensgen stated. It's taken a long time to figure that out.

While there is no such mandate in the United States, car manufacturers are showing interest there since they may require to show they qualify for EV aids under the U.S. Inflation Decrease Act, Johnson-Poensgen said.

Volvo has bought Circulor, as has Jaguar Land Rover and BHP, the world's biggest listed miner.

Johnson-Poensgen stated there was a rush amongst automakers to produce battery passports, which even if they began now lots of may find it hard to fulfill the EU's 2027 due date.

(source: Reuters)