Can a battery passport be read from an NFC tag?
Not as the access point the text names. The batteries regulation requires a QR code on batteries from 18 February 2027, and says the battery passport is accessible through that code, which links to a unique identifier. A tag can sit beside it for other purposes, not instead of it.
Which batteries, and from when
Article 77 of regulation (EU) 2023/1542 provides that from 18 February 2027 each light means of transport battery, each industrial battery with a capacity greater than 2 kWh and each electric vehicle battery placed on the market or put into service has an electronic record, the battery passport.
Smaller batteries are not left out of the text entirely: Article 13 requires all batteries to carry a QR code from the same date, giving access, for those other batteries, to the information, the declaration of conformity and the waste management information the article lists.
The carrier the text names
Here the batteries regulation is more specific than the ecodesign one. Article 77 says the battery passport is accessible through the QR code referred to in Article 13, which links to a unique identifier attributed by the economic operator placing the battery on the market, and requires the code and the identifier to comply with the ISO/IEC 15459 series or equivalent.
That is a named carrier rather than a category, which is why a battery cannot swap the printed code for a tag. The carrier page compares the two where a text leaves the choice open.
What the passport holds
Annex XIII separates three tiers: information relating to the battery model that is accessible to the public, information accessible only to notified bodies, market surveillance authorities and the Commission, and information accessible to anyone with a legitimate interest, for purposes the text names, dismantling and the detailed composition among them.
The public tier alone is substantial: material composition, including hazardous substances and critical raw materials, the carbon footprint information, responsible sourcing, recycled content, rated capacity, voltages, expected lifetime in cycles. It is a datasheet the law makes public, and the access page puts it beside the ecodesign pattern.
What a tag can still do
Everything that is not the passport access point. A tag on a battery pack, a tool or a vehicle can carry a service record, a pairing, an identifier for a return scheme or a link to a manual, and it can do that with the printed code still in place for the passport.
What it cannot do is replace the code the text names, and a project that designs the tag first discovers the obligation late. Read Article 13 and Article 77 before deciding what the object carries, and treat this page as a description of those articles rather than as advice on your product.
Frequently asked questions
Which batteries need a passport?
Light means of transport batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh and electric vehicle batteries, placed on the market from 18 February 2027.
Can an NFC tag replace the QR code?
No. The regulation says the passport is accessible through the QR code that batteries carry, so the code is the access point the text names.
What is public in a battery passport?
Model level information: composition, hazardous substances, critical raw materials, carbon footprint, sourcing, recycled content, capacity, voltages and expected lifetime.
Can a battery carry a tag as well?
Yes, for its own purposes: a service record, a pairing, a return scheme. Beside the code rather than instead of it.