New EU Regulation Aims to Make Batteries More Replaceable

Adrian Mühlroth

June 19, 2023, 1:39 pm | Read time: 4 minutes

In the early years of the smartphone era, it was quite simple to replace an aging battery yourself. Today, this repair is generally only feasible by professionals. A new EU regulation aims to change that.

The EU has been a leader in consumer-friendly and resource-conserving legislation for electronics for years. Recently, it passed a new law to make USB-C the standard charging port for smartphones. Now, further changes are set to follow to strengthen the “right to repair.” TECHBOOK explains the potential impact of the new EU battery regulation.

New EU Law on Batteries and Used Batteries

The European Parliament has approved a draft law from the European Commission to realign EU regulations on the sustainability and recycling of batteries. The draft not only specifies the percentage of batteries that must be recyclable but also aims to simplify repairs. This could mean significant changes for consumers as well.

A large portion of the proposed changes primarily affects companies, which would need to adhere to new manufacturing and recycling guidelines. For EV batteries–such as those in electric cars, scooters, and bikes–and industrial batteries, the EU plans to mandate labeling for the carbon footprint. This will be part of the digital battery passport, which also includes information like manufacturing location and composition. Germany is significantly involved in the development of the passport. This affects batteries with a capacity of more than two kilowatt-hours (kWh).

The most significant change from a consumer perspective concerns “device batteries.” These are batteries in portable devices–including smartphones, laptops, and household appliances. The EU draft law stipulates that consumers should be able to “easily remove and replace” the built-in batteries themselves.

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This would have far-reaching implications for a range of device categories not designed for user maintenance. In many smartphones, laptops, tablets, headphones, etc., the batteries are firmly glued in place. Companies like Apple use so-called pull-tabs in devices like the iPhone, which allow the adhesive to be easily removed by stretching. However, users must first access these areas. In most smartphones, this is only possible through the also glued front or back, which can only be removed with a lot of heat and patience.

At least for trained service providers, battery replacement is not a problem. In contrast, opening and replacing the battery in devices like AirPods and many smartwatches is simply impossible without destroying the casing or internals. These devices are also affected by the new EU law as it currently stands.

How this will be implemented in reality is still difficult to predict. Many modern electronic devices are designed to withstand water and dust, which requires the use of strong adhesives. This makes repairs so difficult that they are hardly feasible for consumers themselves. Typically, expensive special tools are necessary.

Ironically, Apple demonstrates how iPhone maintenance for certain components–including the battery–can be accessible to users. With the Self-Service Program, the company offers repair manuals, replacement parts, and rental tools. The program is available for iPhone models in the 12 and 13 series, the SE 3rd generation, and MacBooks with M1.

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Enhanced Circular Economy for Batteries

The plan is to increase the collection rate of used batteries. For device batteries, the target is 73 percent by 2030, and for batteries in light vehicles (e-scooters and e-bikes), 61 percent by 2031.

The EU aims to set new minimum requirements for both the production and recycling of batteries. By 2031, 80 percent of lithium and 90 percent of cobalt, copper, lead, and nickel should be recovered from used batteries. In production, the proportion of recovered materials should also be increased–for example, to 85 percent for lead and 12 percent for lithium.

Now that the draft law has been approved by the European Parliament, the European Council must adopt it. The new law will then come into effect and be published in the EU’s Official Journal.

Source

European Parliament: “Making batteries more sustainable, durable, and efficient” (accessed June 19, 2023)

This article is a machine translation of the original German version of TECHBOOK and has been reviewed for accuracy and quality by a native speaker. For feedback, please contact us at info@techbook.de.