As planned, the European Union has approved new standards regarding the design, manufacture and waste management of batteries sold in the European Union. After making the USB-C port mandatory for new smartphones, the EU now wants to make our smartphone batteries “easy to remove and replace”, reopening the door for mobile phones with removable batteries.

Affordable and replaceable batteries. This is undoubtedly the most interesting point of the law. While the European Union statement doesn’t explicitly say that mobile phones must have a removable case to remove the battery, it does state that “devices should design their portable batteries so that consumers can easily remove and replace them themselves.” . This isn’t meant to go back to removable clamshell phones from a few years ago, but the easiest and simplest solution seems a priori.

more pickups. Waste also plays a role in the law and the EU wants to be stricter on this. For portable batteries (mobile, portable…) the target is to collect 45% by 2023, 63% by 2027 and 73% by 2030. For LMT batteries (light transportation vehicles such as scooters or electric bicycles), the target is 51% in 2028 and 61% in 2031.

Further recovery of materials. The idea is not only to collect batteries, but also to reuse materials from them. In this sense, the EU separates the minimum targets by mineral:

• Lithium: 50% by 2027 and 80% by 2031.
• Cobalt, copper, lead and nickel: 90% by 2027 and 95% by 2031.

And more recycling. This is a very long-term goal. The EU wants recovered materials to be recycled for use in new batteries. Again, there is a subsection by materials and years. And when we say long term, we mean very long term.

• Eight years after entry into force: 16% for cobalt, 85% for lead, 6% for lithium and 6% for nickel.
• 13 years after entry into force: 26% for cobalt, 85% for lead, 12% for lithium and 15% for nickel.

Let’s see that carbon footprint. Finally, the law stipulates that a “mandatory statement and label” must be added for the carbon footprint of electric vehicles, light transportation vehicles and industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2 kWh. Likewise, LMT batteries, electric vehicles and industrial batteries will also need to have some kind of digital passport. In addition, the law provides for “a due diligence policy for all economic units except SMEs”.

Approved by the great majority. The law was passed with 587 votes in favor, 9 against and 20 abstentions. However, there is one more step to be taken now. After the plenary vote, the Council will need to formally approve the text, which will then be published and enter into force in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Another thing is repairability. As we discussed at the time, there is one thing to consider when talking about using a smartphone (or practically any device) and that is its repairability. The design of devices, especially mobile ones, makes it difficult to open them to change parts. While it’s true that brands should have spare parts for a decade and some, like Samsung or Apple, have home repair kits, repairability is still a consideration. As has already been done, it’s not just a matter of determining if it’s better or why, but offering parts (in this case batteries) to improve at a popular price and optimizing the design to encourage the user to turn on the device. .

More info | European Union

Image | Tyler Lastovic

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