Battery law in Europe: what you need to know

“The proposal for a regulation on batteries (...) is of major importance, particularly in view of the massive development of electric mobility, from an environmental, economic and social point of view. It is also very important in terms of technological sovereignty for the European Union.” (Article - European council - sustainable batteries)

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A new battery law to come into Europe

The new Regulation will replace the Battery Directive 2006/66/EC. The objective is to improve the collection and recycling of batteries, their performance and durability, and to facilitate their repair and reuse.

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Micromobility batteries as a major source of waste

Considering that 30% of greenhouse gas emissions come from transport - including 58% from cars - electric bicycles and scooters play an increasingly important role as they replace the use of cars on certain routes. The micromobility market is booming, averaging 10%* annual growth (*Article - French High Council on Climate - Dépasser les constats, mettre en oeuvre les solutions).

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Due to a lack of design standardization, battery recycling cannot rely on the application of automated dismantling processes. Consequently, the recovery of all the components of a battery is impossible: the loss represents approximately 50%* of the components (*Research - Precedence Research « E-bike Market – Global Industry Analysis”).

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Gouach’s contribution to battery regulation

The increased use of recovered materials is permitted by eco-designed batteries. Gouach provides two solutions to this:

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- A process to analyze and sort second life cells.
- An eco-design that makes it economically viable to use second life cells in the batteries and to recover an important part of the cells at the end of their life.

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Designing and manufacturing batteries to optimize their performance, durability and safety and to minimize their environmental footprint is as important for light means of transport as bigger batteries. The technology is ready and its deployment is in progress, we only have to spread it.

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