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Published - 15 August 2025 - 5 min read

Transparent Supply Chains with Blockchain-Powered Battery Passports

The growing complexity of global battery supply chains demands tools that combine clarity, reliability, and accountability. Blockchain technology has emerged as an ideal partner for battery passports, enabling secure, transparent, and traceable lifecycle tracking for batteries.

This article explores how blockchain-based battery passports are transforming supply chain integrity and examines their role in enhancing circular economy practices, with references to real-world implementations and projects like the EU-funded BASE project.

Blockchain Enhances Data Integrity in Battery Passports

Battery passports provide a digital identity for each battery, containing essential data such as raw material sourcing, carbon footprint, performance history, and end-of-life handling. Blockchain fortifies this system by providing an immutable ledger that prevents tampering and ensures accurate record-keeping across stakeholders.

For example, Partisia Blockchain recently unveiled a digital battery passport built on blockchain that uses updatable NFTs connected to physical batteries via tamper-proof QR codes. This system accommodates transparency while preserving sensitive data through selective privacy mechanisms and multi-party computation.

Pilots Demonstrate Feasibility Across the Value Chain

Several pilot initiatives already showcase the effectiveness of blockchain in battery traceability. In one project, Traced Systems, Instagrid, Batteriretur, and Cling Systems deployed a blockchain-powered Digital Product Passport on Chromia. The pilot covered battery journeys from production through collection, recycling, and resale. It enabled controlled access to data, insights for manufacturers on battery usage, and downstream actors’ improved sorting and recycling operations.

Another example includes Circulor’s solution, built on Hyperledger Fabric, which tracks battery components through the supply chain from ore to reuse or recycling. The system ensures ethical sourcing, sustainability compliance, and lifecycle visibility for electric vehicle batteries. It has been adopted by brands like Volvo, Polestar, Volkswagen, Daimler, and BMW.

Real-World Deployment: Volvo’s Battery Passport

Volvo Cars has already launched the world’s first blockchain-enabled battery passport for its EX90 EV. This record allows customers to trace the origin and sustainability credentials of battery components, including carbon footprint and recycled content, via a QR code inside the vehicle. This initiative anticipates the EU mandate for battery passports in 2027 and provides transparency for customers and regulators alike.

BASE Project’s Approach to Blockchain Integration

The EU-funded BASE Project (Battery Passport for Resilient Supply Chain and Implementation of Circular Economy) is developing a robust Digital Battery Passport (DBP) platform that incorporates distributed ledger technology. This ensures data authenticity, avoids duplication, supports privacy by design and promotes interoperability. The system will trace critical raw materials through the battery lifecycle and provide accurate performance, dismantling, safety and circularity metrics to enhance resource efficiency and recycling.

By combining blockchain with physical tracking through methods like mass balancing, BASE strengthens transparency, resilience and circular business development. The DBP will be demonstrated in four pilot use cases spanning manufacturing, reuse, collection and recycling. 

Towards EU-Wide Traceability Standards

The blockchain-enabled battery passport aligns with broader EU initiatives aimed at digital product traceability. The Digital Product Passport (DPP) regulation, set to expand between 2025 and 2030, will include batteries among other products, strengthening supply chain transparency and circularity directives.

By adopting blockchain, stakeholders can meet new transparency standards, streamline audits and foster consumer trust in battery performance and environmental impact.

Conclusion

Blockchain technology offers a powerful foundation for implementing trustworthy battery passports. It delivers tamper-proof, accessible, and traceable battery lifecycle data—from mineral sourcing to end-of-life recycling. Projects like Volvo’s pilot and BASE exemplify how digital innovation is supporting ethical supply chains, regulatory compliance and a more circular and sustainable battery economy. As global reliance on batteries increases, blockchain-powered passports will be essential in building a transparent and resilient future.

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