Seattle-based digital transparency company Everledger announced Tuesday the launch of a world-first battery passport pilot with Ford to ensure responsible recycling of EV batteries.
The pilot leverages Everledger’s technology platform to track electric vehicle (EV) batteries throughout their lifecycle to ensure responsible management during use and recycling at the end of their useful life.
This will allow Ford to gain visibility on out-of-warranty batteries, validate responsible end of life recycling, and gain access to data such as recycled critical minerals produced and associated CO2 savings, Everledger said in a media release.
Everledger and Ford will use the battery passport solution to track batteries in various late and newer EV models for six months, working together with US lithium-ion battery recyclers Cirba Solutions and Li-Cycle.
To track the battery lifecycle Everledger uses a range of technologies including types of auto ID, blockchain and artificial intelligence.
During manufacture Ford batteries and their inner modules are tagged with 2-D data matrix codes, which are then scanned with a cell phone by each organization as the battery changes hands. These scans allow otherwise separated links in the value chain to report on and access information about a battery’s location, chemistry and other attributes and activities taking place, for example transportation, disassembly and recycling.
The battery passport concept was coordinated by Everledger, along with other industry experts, as part of an industry-led group known as the Global Battery Alliance (GBA). The GBA was founded in 2017 at the annual World Economic Forum and was established to create a sustainable and responsible battery value chain.
The battery passport is the digital identity of a battery which includes information about its materials and components and ultimately the battery itself. It can provide transparency of the battery supply chain as well as the lifecycle of the finished product.
The Everledger-Ford pilot comes ahead of the new European Battery Regulation that will come into force in late 2022/early 2023 and require manufacturers to report on their extended producer responsibility for proper battery recycling.
This pilot, conducted in the North American market, demonstrates how combinations of advanced technologies can streamline regulatory compliance and add efficiencies across the value chain, the company said.
After six months of testing Everledger will release the battery passport commercially.
