Glossary

Digital Product & Battery Passport Glossary

A clear, neutral reference to the terms behind Digital Product Passports and Digital Battery Passports - from State of Health and the Battery Management System to the ESPR, the EU Battery Regulation and the 2027 deadline. Search the 154 definitions or filter by topic.

0-9 A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T U V W Z

Showing 154 terms.

0-9

18650 Cell: A cylindrical cell 18 mm in diameter and 65 mm long, long the industry workhorse. It remains dominant in e-bike and e-scooter packs within LMT passport scope.
21700 Cell: A cylindrical cell 21 mm by 70 mm, holding more capacity per cell than the 18650 at better cost per kilowatt hour. It is widely used in electric vehicles and premium light transport packs.
4680 Cell: A large format cylindrical cell 46 mm by 80 mm using a tabless design to cut internal resistance. It is intended to lower pack cost and enable structural pack integration.

A

Access Rights: The rules that decide which parts of a passport each party can see. A passport is not a single public document: the general public, customers, recyclers, market surveillance authorities and the issuer each receive different levels of access to the same record.
AGM BatteryAGM: A sealed lead-acid battery in which the electrolyte is held in a fibreglass mat between the plates. It resists vibration and spillage, making it common in industrial backup and motive power.
Agricultural Machinery Battery: The battery in electric tractors, harvesters and other farm equipment. Classification follows the vehicle category, though most fall under industrial batteries.
AGV BatteryAGV: The battery powering automated guided vehicles and mobile robots in warehouses and factories. These are industrial batteries and fall in scope above 2 kWh.
All-Iron Flow Battery: A flow battery using only iron based electrolytes, giving low cost, low toxicity and simple end-of-life handling. It targets multi-hour grid and commercial storage.
Aluminium-Air Battery: A very high energy density metal-air battery usually refuelled mechanically rather than recharged electrically. It is limited to range extension and specialist applications.
Article 13 (ESPR Registry): The provision of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation that requires the European Commission to set up a central Digital Product Passport Registry. It must be operational by 19 July 2026 and acts as a closed, role-based index of identifiers and data carriers.
Article 77 (Battery Regulation): The article of the EU Battery Regulation that establishes the battery passport obligation. It sets out which batteries need a passport, what data it must hold and how that data is accessed from 18 February 2027.
Auxiliary Battery: A secondary battery powering onboard systems rather than traction, common in electric and hybrid vehicles. Its classification depends on function and weight rather than the vehicle it sits in.

B

Battery Energy Storage SystemBESS: A complete installation combining battery packs, power conversion, controls and thermal management. Systems above 2 kWh are industrial batteries and require a passport.
Battery Management SystemBMS: The electronic system that monitors and controls a battery during use. It tracks parameters such as state of charge, temperature and state of health, and is the primary source of the dynamic data a battery passport must reflect.
Battery PassportDBP: A structured digital record that accompanies a battery across its lifecycle, from raw material sourcing to end of life. It holds identification, composition, carbon footprint, performance and circularity data, and is reached by scanning a QR code on the pack.
Blade Battery: A pack built from very long prismatic LFP cells that act as structural members. It removes the module layer and improves volumetric efficiency.

C

Calcium-Ion Battery: A research battery using abundant calcium as the charge carrier. It offers a low cost route to high capacity but faces significant electrolyte challenges.
Carbon Footprint: The total greenhouse gas emissions associated with a product across defined lifecycle stages, expressed in CO2 equivalent. For batteries it is reported per model and per manufacturing plant, covering material sourcing, manufacturing, distribution and recycling.
Carbon Footprint Declaration: A mandatory statement of a battery model carbon footprint, calculated using the methodology set out in EU delegated acts. It is one of the first sustainability obligations to take effect under the Battery Regulation.
Cathode Active MaterialCAM: The processed material that forms a battery cell cathode and largely determines its chemistry, energy density and cost. Data generated at this stage feeds carbon footprint and material composition fields in the passport.
Cell-to-Pack BatteryCTP: A pack built by placing cells directly into the enclosure without intermediate modules. It raises energy density but makes dismantling, repair and second-life assessment harder.
Cell, Module, Pack: The three assembly levels of a battery. Individual cells are grouped into modules, and modules into a pack. The passport obligation attaches to the finished battery that can operate safely, typically the pack, rather than to individual cells or modules.
Circular Economy: An economic model that keeps materials and products in use for as long as possible through reuse, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling. Passports support it by making the data needed for each of these pathways available and trusted.
Circular Economy Action Plan: An EU policy framework under the Green Deal that targets the most resource-intensive sectors, including batteries and electric vehicles. It underpinned the move from the old Batteries Directive to the directly applicable Battery Regulation.
Conformity Assessment: The process of checking and declaring that a product meets the relevant regulatory requirements. Conformity declarations and certifications are among the regulatory data points carried in a passport.
Containerised BESS: A grid or commercial storage system packaged in a shipping container with integrated cooling, fire protection and power conversion. Each unit is an industrial battery for passport purposes.
Critical Raw MaterialsCRM: Materials judged economically important and at high risk of supply disruption, such as lithium, cobalt, natural graphite and rare earth elements. Passports often require detailed composition data covering these materials specifically.
Cycle Count: The number of full charge and discharge cycles a battery has completed. It is a dynamic data point that, alongside capacity fade, indicates how much of the battery useful life has been consumed.
Cylindrical Cell: A cell wound into a metal can, mechanically robust and cheap to make at scale. Sizes are named by diameter and height in millimetres, such as 18650 or 21700.

D

Data Carrier: The physical marker that links an item to its passport, most commonly a QR code printed on the product. Scanning the data carrier resolves to the unique identifier and the underlying passport data.
Data Centre Battery: A battery supporting continuous operation of servers and cooling during a supply interruption. These systems are well above the 2 kWh threshold and fall within passport scope.
Data Governance: The policies and controls that define how passport data is created, validated, updated, shared and audited, and who is responsible at each step. Weak governance is a common barrier to keeping passport data accurate over time.
Deep-Cycle Battery: A battery designed to be discharged substantially and recharged repeatedly, rather than delivering short bursts. It is the standard pattern for motive power, off-grid and stationary storage duties.
Delegated Act: A secondary legal act issued by the European Commission to fill in technical detail left open by a regulation. For batteries, delegated and implementing acts clarify carbon footprint methodology, recycled content, due diligence and passport data points.
Digital Product PassportDPP: A digital record that stores standardised information about a product across its lifecycle, accessible through a data carrier such as a QR code. Introduced by the ESPR, it will apply to most physical goods sold in the EU, with batteries as the first mandatory category.
Digital Product Passport Registry: The central EU index established under ESPR Article 13. It does not store full passports; it holds the unique identifiers and data carriers that let regulators, customs and other authorised parties locate and verify passports across the single market.
Digital Twin: A continuously updated digital model of a physical asset. For batteries it can mirror real-time condition and link to the passport, helping keep dynamic data such as state of health current throughout the use phase.
Dual-Carbon Battery: A battery using carbon for both electrodes, avoiding metals entirely. It promises fast charging and simple recycling but has low energy density.
Due Diligence: The obligation to identify, prevent and address social and environmental risks in a supply chain, particularly for raw materials. Due diligence findings are among the responsible-sourcing data points expected in a passport.
Dynamic Data: Information that changes over a battery operating life, such as state of health, state of charge, cycle count and capacity fade. It is generated by the BMS during use and is the hardest passport data to capture and keep up to date.

E

E-Bike Battery: The sealed pack powering a pedal-assist or throttle-driven bicycle, typically well under 25 kg. It is an LMT battery and needs a passport despite its small size.
E-Moped Battery: The battery powering an electric moped or light motorcycle. It is an LMT battery when sealed and 25 kg or under, and an EV battery above that weight.
E-Scooter Battery: The sealed pack powering a standing electric scooter. It is an LMT battery, and limited connectivity makes capturing dynamic data particularly challenging.
Ecodesign for Sustainable Products RegulationESPR: The overarching EU regulation that introduces the Digital Product Passport concept across nearly all physical goods. It also establishes the central registry into which sector passports, starting with batteries, are expected to connect.
Economic Operator: The party that places a product on the EU market and therefore carries responsibility for its passport and the accuracy of the data. For a battery built into a vehicle this is typically the manufacturer or OEM placing it on the market.
Electric Bus Battery: The traction battery in an electric or hybrid bus, often built for fast opportunity charging. It is an EV battery within passport scope.
Electric Vehicle BatteryBEV: The sole traction battery in a vehicle with no combustion engine, sized for full driving range. It is the largest and most data-rich category in passport scope.
End of LifeEoL: The stage at which a battery or product leaves active use and is assessed for reuse, repurposing, remanufacturing or recycling. Complete passport data at this stage improves safety, material recovery and the value retained.
ESGESG: Environmental, social and governance criteria used to assess the sustainability and ethics of a business or supply chain. Passport fields covering carbon footprint, responsible sourcing and due diligence support ESG reporting.
EU Battery Regulation2023/1542: Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, which replaced the Batteries Directive with directly applicable rules across all member states. It introduces recycled content, carbon footprint, due diligence and battery passport requirements on staggered timelines.
EV Battery: A battery designed to power an electric vehicle. Together with industrial batteries above 2 kWh and LMT batteries, EV batteries are in scope of the EU battery passport obligation from 18 February 2027.

F

Flooded Lead-Acid Battery: A vented lead-acid battery with free liquid electrolyte requiring periodic watering. It remains common in large stationary and motive power installations where maintenance access is straightforward.
Flow Battery: A battery storing energy in liquid electrolytes held in external tanks and pumped through a cell stack. Power and energy scale independently, which suits long duration industrial storage.
Foreign Entity of ConcernFEOC: A US designation restricting incentives where battery materials or components originate from certain entities. It has made supplier and material-origin traceability a condition of eligibility for some manufacturers, reinforcing supply chain transparency.
Forklift Battery: A heavy traction battery powering materials handling equipment, historically lead-acid and increasingly lithium. Almost all exceed 2 kWh and will require passports.
Fuel Cell Vehicle BatteryFCEV: The buffer battery in a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, handling peak demand and regenerative braking. It is an EV battery where it supplies traction power.

G

Gel Battery: A sealed lead-acid battery in which the electrolyte is immobilised as a gel using silica. It tolerates deep discharge and high ambient temperatures better than flooded designs.
Global Battery AllianceGBA: A multi-stakeholder industry initiative that developed common principles and data frameworks for battery passports. Its work has influenced battery regulation, sustainability standards and traceability requirements worldwide.

H

Heavy-Duty Truck Battery: The traction battery in an electric lorry, usually several hundred kilowatt hours in capacity. It is an EV battery and requires a passport from February 2027.
Home Storage Battery: A residential battery storing solar generation or off-peak electricity. Most units exceed 2 kWh and are therefore industrial batteries requiring a passport.
Hybrid Electric Vehicle BatteryHEV: A traction battery charged only by the engine and regenerative braking, cycled shallowly but constantly. It is an EV battery and falls within passport scope.
Hybrid Flow Battery: A flow battery in which one electrode is plated as a solid rather than remaining in solution, as in zinc based designs. The solid phase caps energy capacity but improves energy density.

I

Industrial Battery: A battery designed for industrial use, including stationary energy storage. Industrial batteries with a capacity above 2 kWh fall within the scope of the EU battery passport requirement.
Inflation Reduction ActIRA: US legislation offering tax credits and incentives tied to where battery materials are extracted, processed and manufactured. It drives supply chain visibility through eligibility rules rather than a passport, but pushes in the same direction as EU transparency rules.
Interoperability: The ability of different systems and platforms to exchange and use passport data without bespoke integration. It depends on shared identifiers, data models and standards, and is widely seen as essential for passports to scale.
Iron-Air Battery: A battery storing energy by reversibly rusting iron, giving very low cost multi-day storage. It is being commercialised for grid storage measured in days rather than hours.
Iron-Chromium Flow Battery: An early flow battery using low cost iron and chromium electrolytes. It trades energy density for very inexpensive materials in long duration storage.

L

LCO BatteryLCO: A lithium cobalt oxide battery with very high energy density, used mainly in consumer electronics. Its heavy cobalt content raises sourcing concerns, though most LCO cells sit outside passport scope as portable batteries.
Lead-Acid Battery: The oldest rechargeable battery, using lead plates in sulfuric acid. Industrial lead-acid batteries above 2 kWh fall within passport scope, and lead carries the highest recycled content target in the regulation.
Lead-Carbon Battery: A lead-acid battery with carbon added to the negative plate to handle partial state of charge cycling. It bridges conventional lead-acid and lithium in renewable and hybrid storage.
LFP BatteryLFP: A lithium iron phosphate battery, free of cobalt and nickel, known for safety, long life and low cost. It dominates new stationary storage and a growing share of electric vehicles, which simplifies due diligence but changes recycling economics.
Lifecycle Data: The full set of information generated across a product life, from raw material extraction through manufacturing, use and end of life. A passport aims to consolidate this into a single trusted, accessible record.
Light Means of Transport BatteryLMT: A battery for light electric vehicles such as e-bikes and e-scooters. LMT batteries are in scope of the passport, though their limited connectivity makes capturing and updating dynamic data particularly challenging.
Lithium Metal Battery: A battery using an anode of pure lithium metal rather than a host material such as graphite. It offers the highest energy density of the lithium family and is the main reason solid electrolytes are being developed.
Lithium Polymer BatteryLiPo: A lithium-ion battery using a gel or polymer electrolyte inside a flexible pouch rather than a rigid can. It is common in e-bike, e-scooter and other light means of transport packs where shape and weight matter.
Lithium Titanate BatteryLTO: A lithium-ion battery using titanate rather than graphite at the anode, giving extremely fast charging and very long life at lower energy density. It suits punishing duty cycles such as heavy industrial equipment and grid frequency response.
Lithium-Air Battery: A research battery with the highest theoretical energy density of any known system. Cycle life and efficiency problems keep it far from commercial deployment.
Lithium-Ion BatteryLi-ion: The dominant rechargeable battery family, storing energy by moving lithium ions between two electrodes. Almost every EV, LMT and new industrial battery in passport scope is a lithium-ion variant, so the exact sub-type is a core passport data point.
Lithium-Sulfur BatteryLi-S: A battery pairing a lithium anode with a sulfur cathode, offering very high theoretical energy from abundant low cost materials. Cycle life remains the main obstacle to use in vehicles and stationary storage.
LMFP BatteryLMFP: An LFP battery with manganese added to raise voltage and energy density. It keeps the cobalt free advantage of LFP while narrowing the range gap to nickel based batteries.
LMO BatteryLMO: A lithium manganese oxide battery offering good power delivery and low cost but a shorter life. It is often blended with NMC or used in light means of transport packs.
LMR BatteryLMR: A lithium manganese rich battery using manganese as the primary metal with minimal cobalt and reduced nickel. It targets lower cost and lower supply risk for mass market electric vehicles later this decade.
LNMO BatteryLNMO: A high-voltage lithium nickel manganese oxide battery that operates without cobalt. It promises low material cost and strong power delivery but needs electrolytes stable at elevated voltage.

M

Magnesium-Ion Battery: A battery using divalent magnesium ions, which carry twice the charge of lithium ions. Electrolyte limitations keep it at laboratory stage.
Marine Battery: A traction or hybrid battery installed in vessels, subject to demanding safety and certification rules. Larger systems are industrial batteries for passport purposes.
Market Surveillance Authority: A national body responsible for checking that products on the market comply with regulation. These authorities verify a portion of passports, follow up on gaps and resolve borderline cases such as batteries without a BMS.
Material Provenance: Verified information about where a material originates and the path it takes through the supply chain. It underpins responsible sourcing claims and the material composition fields of a passport.
Material Safety Data SheetMSDS: A document describing the composition, hazards and handling of a material. Passports rely on such data, but many sheets remain scanned paper rather than machine-readable, which is a recognised barrier to automated compliance.
Metal-Air Battery: A battery drawing oxygen from the surrounding air as one reactant, so only the metal electrode is stored internally. This gives very high theoretical energy density from cheap materials.
Microgrid Battery: A battery serving a local network able to operate independently of the main grid. It is treated as an industrial battery and needs a passport above 2 kWh.
Mining Equipment Battery: The battery in electrified underground and surface mining machinery. Large capacity and demanding duty place these firmly in the industrial battery bracket.
Molten Salt Battery: Any battery using a molten salt electrolyte held at elevated temperature, covering sodium-sulfur and ZEBRA designs. Its thermal management brings distinct safety data into the passport.
Motive Power BatteryPzS: A heavy deep-cycle battery built for repeated discharge in forklifts and industrial trucks. Units above 2 kWh are industrial batteries and require a passport from 2027.

N

NCA BatteryNCA: A lithium-ion battery using a nickel cobalt aluminium cathode, favoured in long-range electric vehicles. It delivers high specific energy but is nickel and cobalt intensive, keeping it within critical raw material reporting.
Nickel-Cadmium BatteryNiCd: A durable battery with excellent low temperature performance and long service life. Cadmium restrictions have narrowed its use to specific industrial backup and rail applications.
Nickel-Hydrogen BatteryNiH2: A battery with aerospace heritage now being adapted for stationary storage, valued for extremely long cycle life. Cost historically limited it to satellites.
Nickel-Iron BatteryNiFe: A very long lived battery tolerant of abuse and deep discharge, at the cost of low efficiency. It is found in off-grid and long service industrial installations.
Nickel-Metal Hydride BatteryNiMH: A robust battery with moderate energy density, used mainly in hybrid electric vehicles. Hybrid traction packs sit within EV battery scope regardless of their chemistry.
Nickel-Zinc BatteryNiZn: A battery offering higher cell voltage than other nickel systems while using non-toxic materials. It appears in niche backup and data centre installations.
NMC 622 Battery: An NMC battery with six parts nickel to two each of manganese and cobalt. It sits between older balanced formulations and high-nickel grades, trading energy density for cycle stability and cost.
NMC 811 Battery: A high-nickel NMC battery with roughly eight parts nickel to one each of manganese and cobalt. It offers greater range with less cobalt, which changes both the declared carbon footprint and the recycled content profile.
NMC BatteryNMC: A lithium-ion battery built on a nickel manganese cobalt cathode, the most common choice in electric vehicles. Its nickel and cobalt content places it at the centre of due diligence, recycled content and critical raw material reporting.
NMCA BatteryNMCA: A lithium-ion battery combining the nickel manganese cobalt and nickel cobalt aluminium approaches. It targets high energy density with better thermal stability and reduced cobalt content.

O

Off-Grid Battery: A battery serving a site with no grid connection, typically paired with solar or wind generation. Systems above 2 kWh are industrial batteries in passport scope.
Organic Radical BatteryORB: A battery using organic radical polymers as the active material rather than metal compounds. It charges quickly and avoids critical raw materials but stores little energy.
Organic Redox Flow Battery: A flow battery using engineered organic molecules in place of metals. It aims to remove supply risk from the electrolyte entirely but is still largely pre-commercial.
Original Equipment ManufacturerOEM: The maker of the finished product into which a battery is integrated, such as a vehicle manufacturer. OEMs contribute usage, performance and state-of-health data, and often act as the economic operator responsible for the passport.

P

Placing on the Market: The legal moment a product is first made available in the EU, which triggers the passport obligation. For imports this is usually at customs; for an EU manufacturer it is when the finished battery is sold on to the next party.
Plug-In Hybrid BatteryPHEV: A traction battery that can be charged from the grid and supplements a combustion engine. It is an EV battery regardless of its smaller capacity.
Polysulfide-Bromide BatteryPSB: A flow battery using sodium polysulfide and sodium bromide electrolytes. It was among the first flow designs trialled at grid scale and is now largely historic.
Portable Battery: A sealed battery weighing 5 kg or less that is not an EV, LMT or SLI battery and is not designed for industrial use. Portable batteries fall outside the passport obligation, though other parts of the regulation still apply.
Potassium-Ion Battery: A battery analogous to sodium-ion using abundant potassium as the charge carrier. It remains at research stage but shares the appeal of avoiding lithium and cobalt.
Pouch Cell: A cell sealed in flexible laminated foil rather than a rigid case. It is light and space efficient but needs external support and careful thermal management.
Precursor MaterialpCAM: An intermediate compound produced before the cathode active material in battery manufacturing. Production at this stage generates environmental and sourcing data later used for carbon footprint and traceability reporting.
Primary Battery: A non-rechargeable battery, discharged once and then disposed of or recycled. Primary batteries are generally portable and therefore outside passport scope.
Prismatic Cell: A cell packaged in a rigid rectangular can, using pack volume efficiently. It is standard in many LFP and NMC vehicle and storage systems.

Q

QR Code: The data carrier most commonly used to link a physical product to its passport. Scanning it resolves to the unique identifier and, through it, the passport data appropriate to the party scanning.

R

Rail Traction Battery: A battery powering trains or trams across unelectrified sections of track. Systems sit well above the 2 kWh threshold and require passports.
Recycled Content: The share of recovered material used in a new battery, such as recycled cobalt, lithium or nickel. The Battery Regulation sets minimum recycled content targets and requires this share to be declared and, in time, verified.
Refurbishment: Restoring a used battery or product to working condition so it can be used again for its original purpose. Reliable lifecycle data helps determine whether refurbishment is the right end-of-life pathway.
Remanufacturing: Rebuilding a product to as-new condition using a combination of reused, repaired and new components. It depends on accurate records of composition, history and state of health from the passport.
Replacement Battery: A battery sold on its own to replace one already in service. It counts as being newly placed on the market, so the passport obligation applies to it in full.
Repurposing: Adapting a used battery for a different application, such as moving a retired EV battery into stationary energy storage. State of health and history data are needed to confirm a battery is fit for its second use.
Responsible Sourcing: Procuring materials in a way that manages environmental, social and human rights risks across the supply chain. Passports collect and share the evidence behind responsible sourcing claims rather than replacing existing frameworks.

S

Second Life: A further period of use for a battery after it no longer meets the demands of its first application, typically in a less demanding role. Second-life decisions rely on trusted state-of-health and performance data from the passport.
Secondary Battery: A rechargeable battery, able to be charged and discharged repeatedly. All batteries within passport scope are secondary batteries.
Semantic Data Model: A standardised representation of the passport data points and their meaning. The Commission uses it to check that a passport is structurally complete when it is notified to the registry, though this does not verify that the values are correct.
Semi-Solid-State Battery: A transitional battery combining a solid or gel electrolyte with a small amount of liquid. It captures part of the safety and energy benefit of solid-state cells using existing production lines.
Silicon Anode Battery: A lithium-ion battery whose anode replaces some or all graphite with silicon to store more energy per kilogram. Silicon expands during charging, so capacity fade behaviour becomes an important passport performance figure.
SLI BatterySLI: A starting, lighting and ignition battery, typically the conventional 12 volt unit in a vehicle. SLI batteries are explicitly excluded from the battery passport requirement.
Sodium-Ion BatteryNa-ion: A battery storing sodium rather than lithium ions, using abundant materials and no lithium, cobalt or nickel. It performs well in cold weather and is entering light electric vehicles and stationary storage, reshaping raw material reporting.
Sodium-Nickel Chloride BatteryZEBRA: A molten salt battery tolerant of abuse and largely insensitive to ambient temperature. It has been deployed in buses, rail vehicles and stationary storage.
Sodium-Sulfur BatteryNaS: A high temperature battery operating near 300 degrees Celsius with molten electrodes and a ceramic electrolyte. It is used in large grid scale installations with long discharge durations.
Solid-State Battery: A battery in which the liquid electrolyte is replaced by a solid conductor, enabling lithium metal anodes and higher energy density. Commercial arrival late this decade will bring new safety, composition and recycling data into passports.
State of ChargeSoC: The current charge level of a battery relative to its capacity, expressed as a percentage. It is a dynamic parameter tracked by the BMS during operation.
State of HealthSoH: A measure of how much a battery has degraded relative to its original condition, reflecting remaining capacity and performance. It is the headline dynamic data point for assessing reuse, repurposing and recycling decisions.
Static Data: Passport information fixed at manufacture, such as chemistry, capacity, material composition and manufacturer details. Unlike dynamic data it does not change in use, which makes it comparatively straightforward to capture and share.
Stationary Battery Energy Storage SystemSBESS: Defined in the Battery Regulation as an industrial battery with internal storage that supplies electricity to the grid or to end users. It is named explicitly within the scope of the passport obligation.
Structural Battery: A battery built into a load bearing component so the structure itself stores energy. It could cut vehicle mass but complicates repair, dismantling and end-of-life reporting.
Supercapacitor: A device storing energy electrostatically rather than through chemical reactions, giving huge power but little energy. It is not a battery under the regulation and falls outside passport scope entirely.
Supply Chain Traceability: The ability to track materials, components and products through each stage of the supply chain. It is moving from a competitive advantage to a regulatory requirement and is a core purpose of the passport.

T

Telecom Backup Battery: A battery keeping mobile base stations and network equipment running through outages. Larger installations qualify as industrial batteries requiring a passport.
Traction Battery: Any battery whose purpose is to move a vehicle rather than to start it or run its accessories. Traction function is the test that separates EV and LMT batteries from SLI batteries.
Tubular Plate Battery: A lead-acid battery whose active material is held in porous tubes around central spines. The design extends cycle life considerably and is standard in motive power and long duration stationary use.

U

UltraBattery: A hybrid design combining a lead-acid cell with a carbon supercapacitor in the same unit. It handles high rate partial state of charge duty far better than standard lead-acid.
Unique Identifier: The code that uniquely identifies a product or battery and links it to its passport in the registry. For batteries this is the unique battery identifier referenced by the data carrier on the pack.
UPS BatteryUPS: A battery providing uninterruptible power to critical loads such as data centres and hospitals. Units above 2 kWh are industrial batteries within passport scope.

V

Vanadium Redox Flow BatteryVRFB: The most deployed flow battery, using vanadium in different oxidation states on both sides of the cell. It offers very long life with fully recoverable electrolyte, which matters for circularity reporting.
VRLA BatteryVRLA: A valve-regulated lead-acid battery, sealed with a pressure valve so it never needs topping up with water. It covers both absorbed glass mat and gel constructions and is widespread in backup power.

W

Waste Battery: A battery that has been discarded or is destined for disposal or recycling under the regulation. Its passport status must be updated to reflect that it has left active use.

Z

Zinc-Air Battery: A metal-air battery using atmospheric oxygen at the cathode and zinc at the anode. It carries no thermal runaway risk and is emerging in stationary storage.
Zinc-Bromine Flow Battery: A hybrid flow battery that plates zinc metal during charging while bromine stays in solution. It uses abundant materials and tolerates being fully discharged.
Zinc-Ion Battery: An aqueous battery using a zinc anode, valued for safety and low material cost. It is being trialled for stationary storage where energy density is not critical.
Zinc-Iron Flow Battery: A flow battery pairing a zinc electrode with an iron electrolyte, avoiding vanadium and bromine entirely. It remains at demonstration scale for stationary storage.

From definitions to a working passport

Circuland turns these requirements into live Digital Product and Battery Passports, with the data carriers, access levels and lifecycle records the regulation expects.

Explore the battery passport Battery passports, explained

Integrations

Industries

Resources

Digital Product & Battery Passport Glossary

0-9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Z

From definitions to a working passport