Tesla, Quebec, LG and others are working on a new “battery passport”.

Tesla, Quebec, LG and others, through the Global Battery Alliance, are working on a new “battery passport” to track battery materials.

The project is important to sustainable EV batteries and is central to the new EV incentive in the United States.

One of the biggest arguments of EV opponents is that mining battery material is as polluting as burning gasoline.

That’s it common false based on relevant researchbut that doesn’t mean there aren’t improvements to make the mining of battery materials more sustainable and to ensure that all resources come from ethical operations, especially without child labor.

The Global Battery Alliance (GAB) is promoting a new solution called the “Battery Passport”.

GAB is an industry group More than 100 companies It is involved in the EV battery supply chain from mining companies like Glencore to automakers like Tesla and battery cell manufacturers like LG. The group’s goal is to “help establish a sustainable battery value chain by 2030.”

One of the first steps in building a sustainable battery value chain is understanding where all the materials in a battery cell come from, which is harder than you might think. A battery cell is mainly composed of cathode, anode, separator and electrolyte, and each of these parts is made of several different materials that need to be processed.

From mining to processing to assembly, it can be difficult to know where each part of a battery cell comes from, which is important to know in order to ensure that the entire value chain is sustainable.

It’s also important for automakers to know in the United States that the new federal tax credit for electric vehicles requires battery materials to come from North America or countries that have free trade agreements with the United States to get the full $7,500. Credit for new EVs.

Some automakers aren’t even sure if they’ll get the full credit when the full credit goes into effect in 2023, because tracking can be so difficult.

This is where the Global Battery Alliance’s battery passport comes in. The group describes the project on itself website:

The Battery Passport is a digital representation of a battery that provides information on all applicable ESG and lifecycle requirements based on a comprehensive definition of a sustainable battery. Each Battery Passport will be a digital twin of its physical battery enabled by the Battery Passport digital platform, providing a global solution for securely sharing information and data. This platform aims to go beyond enabling performance management of a single battery to all batteries across the industry’s entire value chain.

The project is led by GBA’s board of directors, which is chaired by Tristan Mecham, responsible sourcing project manager at Tesla, and Simon Thibault, general manager of the battery value chain at Investissement Québec, a public investment arm of the Quebec government.

Interestingly, we recently reported on this Tesla visited local mining companies in Quebecand is looking for a potential factory location.

The team explains in more detail what the battery passport will be:

• A global reporting framework to regulate the measurement, auditing and reporting of ESG parameters in the battery value chain.
• A digital battery ID containing data and descriptions of ESG’s performance, manufacturing history and origin, as well as enabling battery life extension and recycling.
• Harmonization of digital systems collaborating along the value chain to report data in the battery passport.
• A digital platform that will collect, exchange, collect and report data between all authorized lifecycle actors to drive a sustainable value chain for electric vehicles (EVs) and stationary batteries. It will transparently report progress towards global goals along the battery value chain to inform government and civil society policy-making and develop performance benchmarks.
• Battery quality seal (based on data reported on the platform) to facilitate responsible consumer purchasing.

After years in the making, the group recently announced the first step towards obtaining its drum passport with the release of the first version. Regulation of Greenhouse Gases.