In the early years of the smartphone era, it was extremely easy to replace an aging battery yourself. Today, this repair can usually only be carried out by specialist personnel. A new EU regulation aims to change that.
For years, the EU has been a leader in consumer-friendly and resource-saving legislation for electronics. It recently passed a new law to make USB-C the standard charging port for smartphones. Now further changes are to follow that strengthen the “right to repair”. TECHBOOK explains what the consequences of the new EU regulation on batteries could be.
New EU law on batteries and waste batteries
The European Parliament has approved a European Commission bill to realign EU regulations on battery sustainability and recycling. The draft not only stipulates the proportion of batteries that must be recyclable, but should also simplify repairs. This could also mean far-reaching changes for consumers.
However, a large part of the planned changes primarily affects companies that would have to observe new specifications in production and recycling. The EU is planning mandatory CO2 footprint labeling for EV batteries – for example in e-cars, e-scooters and e-bikes – and industrial batteries. This should be part of the digital battery pass which contains additional information such as place of manufacture and composition. Germany is significantly involved in the development of the passport. This affects batteries with a capacity of more than two kilowatt hours (kWh).
The most significant change from a consumer perspective concerns “portable batteries”. This means batteries in portable devices – including smartphones, laptops and household appliances. The EU draft law provides that consumers should be able to “easily remove and replace” the built-in batteries themselves.
Are removable batteries coming back?
This would have far-reaching consequences for a whole range of device categories that are not designed for user maintenance. In many smartphones, laptops, tablets, headphones, etc., the batteries are firmly glued. Companies like Apple use so-called pull tabs on the iPhone, for example, which can be easily detached by stretching the adhesive surface. Still, users have to get there first. With most smartphones, this is only possible via the front or back, which is also glued and can only be removed with a lot of heat and patience.
After all, replacing the battery is no problem, at least for trained service providers. In contrast, opening and changing the battery in devices like AirPods and many smartwatches is simply impossible without destroying the case or inner workings. According to the current status, these devices are also affected by the new EU law.
How the implementation will look like in reality can hardly be estimated so far. Many modern electronic devices are designed to withstand water and dust – this requires the use of strong adhesives. However, this makes the repairs so difficult that they can hardly be carried out by consumers themselves. Expensive special tools are usually required for this.
However, Apple of all people is showing how iPhone maintenance for certain components – including the battery – can also be accessible to users. With the Self-Service Program The company offers repair manuals, spare parts and loan tools. The program is available for iPhone models of the 12 and 13 series and the SE 3rd generation as well as MacBooks with M1.
Reinforced circular economy for batteries
It is intended to increase the proportion of used batteries collected. A target of 73 percent by 2030 applies to portable batteries, and 61 percent by 2031 for batteries in light means of transport (e-scooters and e-bikes).
The EU wants to set new minimum requirements for both the manufacture and recycling of batteries. By 2031, 80 percent lithium and 90 percent cobalt, copper, lead and nickel are to be recovered from old batteries. In addition, the proportion of recovered ingredients is to be increased during production – to around 85 percent for lead and 12 percent for lithium.
Now that the draft law has been approved by the European Parliament, the European Council still has to adopt it. The new law will then come into force and appear in the Official Journal of the EU.