Welcome to Inside BASE, a blog series exploring the progress of the BASE Project and the work taking place behind the development of a trusted, interoperable Digital Battery Passport ecosystem. In each edition, we look at a key project milestone, explaining what it aims to achieve, how it contributes to the project, and why it matters for the battery value chain.
In this edition, we explore the system design developed under Solution Requirements and KPIs. Building on the requirements identified earlier in the project, this work establishes the architecture that will guide the development of the BASE Digital Battery Passport (DBP) platform.
From Requirements to System Design
Before a complex digital platform can be developed, its components, interactions and data flows need to be clearly defined. For the BASE Project, this means establishing how battery information will be collected, organised, stored, shared and updated throughout a battery's lifecycle.
The earlier requirements analysis identified the needs the BASE solution must address, including traceability, interoperability, regulatory compliance, security and controlled access to information. The system design translates these needs into a technical framework that guides how the different parts of the platform fit together.
The resulting reference architecture provides a common foundation for the developers and project partners working on the BASE ecosystem. It also helps ensure that individual tools and services can operate together as part of a coordinated solution.
Connecting the Battery Value Chain
A battery's journey involves many organisations, from manufacturers and material suppliers to distributors, repairers, remanufacturers and recyclers. Each plays a different role and needs access to particular information at different stages of the battery lifecycle.
The BASE architecture is designed to support these interactions by connecting relevant stakeholders with the battery data they need. A Digital Battery Passport acts as a reference point for information about a battery, helping authorised users retrieve relevant records and, where permitted, contribute updates.
Access depends on the user's role and permissions. Consumers can access public information, while stakeholders with legitimate interests may require additional data to carry out activities such as repair, remanufacturing or recycling. This approach supports transparency without making all information available to everyone.
How the BASE System Works
The architecture brings together several components that support the creation, management and use of Digital Battery Passports.
These include the DBP application, data management services, data-sharing infrastructure and specialised tools for assessing battery performance, sustainability and compliance. Each component has a defined role, while the architecture establishes how they interact.
A simplified example illustrates how the system is intended to work.
When a responsible economic operator creates a Digital Battery Passport, relevant information is assembled from available data sources and checked against the applicable data structure and validation rules. Once validated and stored, the passport can be issued with a unique identifier and linked to a data carrier, such as a QR code.
As the battery moves through its lifecycle, authorised stakeholders can retrieve relevant information and submit updates. For example, a repairer may contribute maintenance information, while a recycler may provide data about end-of-life processing. These updates help maintain a more complete record of the battery's history.
The architecture also incorporates mechanisms for data registration, access management and backup, supporting the availability, integrity and controlled sharing of battery information.
Building on Existing Data Standards
Interoperability is essential to a Digital Battery Passport ecosystem because the organisations involved in a battery's lifecycle may use different systems, data formats and technologies.
To address this challenge, the BASE reference architecture draws on established frameworks and approaches, including Catena-X, Gaia-X and International Data Spaces (IDS). These provide foundations for interoperable data exchange, data sovereignty and secure collaboration.
The design also incorporates semantic validation and structured data management to help ensure that information can be interpreted consistently across systems. This is important when battery data needs to move between manufacturers, service providers and other stakeholders without losing its meaning.
By building on existing approaches rather than treating every system as an isolated solution, BASE aims to support a more connected and adaptable digital ecosystem.
Supporting the Battery Lifecycle
The value of a Digital Battery Passport extends beyond the point at which a battery is manufactured or sold. Information about its composition, performance, maintenance and previous use can support decisions throughout its lifecycle.
The BASE ecosystem includes tools intended to support different aspects of battery management. These include life-cycle assessment (LCA), circularity assessment, environmental, social, governance and economic (ESGE) analysis, AI-based applications, state-of-X and safety analytics, traceability services and compliance checking.
Together, these capabilities are intended to help stakeholders use battery data for more informed decisions about performance, safety, sustainability and end-of-life management.
The architecture also accounts for changes in a battery's lifecycle. Where a battery is prepared for reuse, repurposing or remanufacturing, the relevant passport information must support the applicable identification and linking requirements. This helps preserve important connections between a battery's history and its subsequent use.
Why Is This Important?
A Digital Battery Passport depends on more than collecting information. The data must be structured, accessible to the appropriate users, protected against unauthorised access and usable across different systems.
The BASE system design provides the framework for addressing these challenges. By defining the main components, their responsibilities and the flow of information between them, it gives the project partners a shared technical reference for developing and integrating the platform.
It also creates a foundation for connecting battery lifecycle information with tools that support traceability, compliance, performance assessment and circularity. These capabilities can help stakeholders make better-informed decisions while supporting the broader transition towards a more transparent and resource-efficient battery value chain.
Looking Ahead
With the system architecture established, the BASE Project has a clearer framework for moving from requirements towards implementation and integration. The design connects the needs identified earlier in the project with the technical components and data flows required to build the Digital Battery Passport ecosystem.
This work forms part of a wider development effort involving battery performance and safety indicators, circularity methodologies, ESGE assessment, platform integration and industrial validation.
In future editions of Inside BASE, we will continue exploring the project's progress, looking at the methods, tools and technologies being developed to support a more transparent, interoperable and circular battery value chain.
The BASE project has received funding from the Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON) Research and Innovation Actions under grant agreement No. 101157200.