After Europe won its decision to force companies into using USB-C as a standard over proprietary alternatives (ie, Apple Lightning), it decided to continue its fight by directing its attention to the batteries in our mobile devices.
It actually goes beyond that as the focus is on batteries in general as the European Parliament seeks to reduce waste and enhance the user-friendliness of consumer electronics. With an outstanding number of votes in favor of the new rules (587, vs 9 against and 20 abstentions), companies will now have to follow a number of rules.
These rules include the following:
- A compulsory carbon footprint declaration and label for electric vehicles (EV) batteries, light means of transport (LMT) batteries (e.g. for electric scooters and bikes), and rechargeable industrial batteries with a capacity above 2kWh;
- Designing portable batteries in appliances in such a way that consumers can (themselves) easily remove and replace them;
- A digital battery passport for LMT batteries, industrial batteries with a capacity above 2 kWh, and EV batteries;
- A due diligence policy for all economic operators, except for SMEs;
- Stricter waste collection targets: for portable batteries – 45% by 2023, 63% by 2027, and 73% by 2030; for LMT batteries – 51% by 2028 and 61% by 2031;
- Minimum levels of materials recovered from waste batteries: lithium – 50% by 2027 and 80% by 2031; cobalt, copper, lead, and nickel – 90% by 2027 and 95% by 2031;
- Minimum levels of recycled content from manufacturing and consumer waste for use in new batteries: eight years after the entry into force of the regulation – 16% for cobalt, 85% for lead, 6% for lithium, and 6% for nickel; 13 years after the entry into force: 26% for cobalt, 85% for lead, 12% for lithium and 15% for nickel.
As you can see, the rules cover everything from EV batteries to the small batteries in our phones. What is most relevant to consumers, though, is the latter. Which is the part about “portable batteries in appliances”. This would include the batteries within smartphones, tablets, laptops, cameras, and more (I would assume smartwatches would also be included — why wouldn’t they?).
This would take us back to the days when you could pop the back of your phone off and swap out that battery inside. A much easier fix than trying to take your phone apart (which companies do everything they can to make as difficult as possible) or buying a new phone, just because the battery will no longer charge properly.
Of course, this is big news for those in favor of promoting “right to repair” (the right to be able to repair the electronics that you own). It should also prove to be useful to the rest of the world as companies will typically adopt these new requirements globally (instead of producing multiple models of the same product).
Not only that, but enhanced requirements focused on the recycling of materials and proper waste collection would greatly help the industry. Especially as EVs take over the world causing a constantly increasing demand for lithium (and lithium waste solutions).
