EV battery passport pilots underway

With mining for critical minerals like cobalt embattled on many fronts, the preference for fair trade options, need for source transparency, and massive investments in battery recycling infrastructure are being keenly felt.

To meet demand, two ReSource electric vehicle (EV) battery passport pilots were successfully issued in January by the Global Battery Alliance (GBA) and its founding consortium of China Molybdenum (CMOC) mining group, Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), Glencore, and LG Energy Solution.

"Our partnership with ReSource is based on our ability to provide clear proof of origin to our global customer base," said Jyothish George, Marketing head of Glencore's iron ore division. "As the world focuses on the ongoing energy transition, this means greater focus is being placed on a transparent supply chain. We are proud that our support for ReSource will enable the first end-to-end tracking of cobalt from mine to market."

Trying it on a Tesla

The first publicly available battery passport proof of concept is a test run using a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range NMC-M50 battery in collaboration with Glencore and LG Energy Solution. This passport pilot demonstrates end-to-end real-time tracking of physical material through the supply chain from mine to EV manufacturer, and eventually battery end-of-life, recycling and second life.

With two initial pilots, ReSource has mapped and traced data points from cobalt and lithium supply chains as well as where battery cells were produced and by which companies.

As only a proof-of-concept, Tesla's passport contains partial dummy data, with the various GBA tools only used on select raw material supply chains, not all battery inputs.

"This is a major breakthrough in demonstrating the capability of this technology to be a force for good. ReSource is the only solution that plans to provide end-to-end real-time tracking of the battery materials [...]without disclosing commercially sensitive information," said Benedikt Sobotka, founding member and co-chair of the GBA and CEO of Eurasian Resources Group. "This can and will be a game-changer for the industry, providing the technology for safe, secure supply chains, responsible and sustainable sourcing of materials, and transparency and traceability through a product's lifetime."

A growing alliance

The GBA brings together leading international organizations and NGOs, banks, mining and trade associations, top automotive and battery manufacturers, educational institutions and multiple governments in a pre-competitive collaboration to drive systemic change quickly and effectively.

The pilots were presented as an ongoing collaboration by a host of industry leaders, including Samsung SDI, RCS Global (a due diligence audit service provider for the battery economy), Cobalt Institute trade association, Responsible Minerals Initiative and materials tech and recycling company Umicore, to name a few key players.

In 2022, the European Union also developed regulations for the creation of a digital passport aimed at controlling and improving the battery life cycle.

All batteries sold in Europe from 2027 onward must now have a battery passport tracking mineral sources and details on environmental impacts.

This is in response to increasing concern over continued human rights abuses, particularly in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Similarly, a proven percentage of fair-trade resource content is required in the US in order for EV purchases to qualify for tax breaks.

How it works

The idea is straightforward – ReSource is positioned as a platform for the worldwide EV industry to demonstrate battery provenance, ensure the traceability and transparency of the global supply chain from mine to battery, support reclamation and materials recycling, and give drivers confidence that the critical minerals in their car batteries have been mined and processed ethically.

Powered by blockchain technology, battery passports offer consumers in the market for a new vehicle the ability to scan a cloud-connected code and make more informed buying decisions with trustworthy data.

Collating and reporting trusted data among all lifecycle stakeholders also promotes integrated accountability.

To manage impacts throughout battery lifetimes, ReSource establishes a digital twin of the physical battery hosted in the cloud that continuously tracks and collates data points such as technical specs of the battery, traceability information about materials sourcing and processing, and compiles a summary of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance metrics.

Standardizing accountability

As the first generation of EV batteries reaches retirement age in the coming years, their subsequent treatment will fall under scrutiny, and second-life materials will continue to rise in desirability and hopefully drive recycling costs down.

The need to meet Paris Agreement targets through rapidly scaled, sustainable, responsible, and circular battery value chains was emphasized by the GBA in an insight report published in 2019.

ReSource was subsequently launched in January of this year, and its passports were presented to business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Sweden, where GBA itself was first incubated back in 2017.

Due diligence outlines have also been developed in tandem with the pilots to establish relevant performance indicators as set out in the Greenhouse Gas rulebook and indices on Child Labor and Human Rights.

"CMOC and its global trading platform IXM are committed to responsible mining, processing, delivering and application of new energy metals," said Sun Ruiwen, CEO of CMOC, "Bringing together all stakeholders across the world with this joint effort, a technologically advanced transparent and responsible supply chain will give end users greater confidence and consciousness when they consume the products made from raw materials supplied by us. We are very proud of the successful pilot of ReSource and looking forward to its large-scale implementation and application to a much broader scope in the new energy metals sector."

A bit farther to go

Critics have raised concerns that companies should not be responsible for verifying their own products. The passport's data is currently graded between one and four stars – one star, data is self-reported; two stars, data is verified by a member of the supply chain (which is where the current pilot rating stands); three stars, data is audited by authorized verifier or auditor; and four-star, data is collected via authorized external provider and additionally audited.

"Time and time again when industries have been relied upon to regulate themselves, unsurprisingly it has often been ineffective, at worst a get-out-of-jail-free card for bad practice. It really shouldn't be a surprise that when companies mark their own homework, they tend to get straight As; we need proper and well-resourced government regulation to hold corporates to account." Said Yimin Yi, natural resource governance lead at Global Witness.

ERG also stands out in recent press as an unlikely company to lead a transparency initiative due to its subsidiary, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC), being accused of engaging in various lawsuits designed to dissuade public scrutiny.

ERG was founded to buy out the assets of ENRC, which itself has been under investigation by the UK's Serious Fraud Office since April 2013, on "allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption around the acquisition of substantial mineral assets."

Next steps

Further development and implementation of battery passports for EV vehicles are planned based on the results of the pilots, and it is unclear yet what form ReSource will ultimately take at that point.

ReSource's website states it is a joint venture initiative awaiting constitution, supported by multiple parties but with no controlling company yet incorporated.

If constituted, ReSource is expected to "be a joint venture between multiple parties (including IXM, ERG and Glencore); its constitution is subject to global anti-trust approvals being granted," according to the website.

Once completed, the passport program will consist of a digital ID for batteries connected through a global reporting platform to collect, collate, and report data among lifecycle stakeholders using performance benchmarks.

The platform will govern standardized measurement, auditing, and reporting of ESG parameters, battery manufacturing history, and materials provenance, as well as promote battery life extension and materials recovery.

It will report progress across all points of the value chain to more accurately inform policymaking and develop a definitive quality seal for batteries to facilitate responsible consumer purchasing.