India Moves Towards EU-Style Battery Passport With Proposed ‘Battery Pack Aadhaar’ System

In a bid to create a European Union (EU)-style battery energy storage system benchmark, India has now brought out draft regulatory guidelines for developing a Battery Pack Aadhaar system. This announcement closely follows companies such as TATA introducing blockchain to batteries last year.

The government has brought out the latest round of draft regulations to study the State of Health (SoH) and lifetime disclosure, carbon footprint declaration, recycled content verification, and supply-chain due diligence of battery energy storage systems (BESS). The guidelines aim to improve the reliability of the information uploaded by manufacturers/producers in the supply chain by enabling government entities to audit the premises of battery manufacturers/producers for Battery Pack Aadhaar number generation capabilities.

Similarly, Europe has also introduced international initiatives such as the EU Battery Regulation and the EU Battery Passport (Regulation (EU) mechanisms. This process encourages India to provide useful benchmarking on lifecycle transparency, traceability, and digital compliance approaches.

However, the market’s scale (especially 2Wheeler/3Wheeler dominance), cost sensitivity, and diverse stakeholder maturity set India apart. Therefore, the draft aims to bring out an India-first, practical implementation pathway to achieve compliance without imposing EU-level data burdens and infrastructure costs on mass-market batteries. The digital system introduces a unique 21-character digital identity (BPAN) for EV and industrial batteries.

Why Does India Need a Battery Pack Aadhaar?

India is enhancing its manufacturing capabilities in Advanced Chemistry Cells (ACC) by establishing giga-scale ACC and battery production facilities, with a strong emphasis on maximizing domestic value addition. The Battery Pack Aadhaar system will help enable the government to verify whether the cells used in battery packs are produced domestically, as mandated under the ACC PLI scheme.

Battery Pack Aadhaar serves as a foundational “digital identity and data backbone” for batteries through BPAN (alphanumeric), a QR code (offline/static dataset), and a lean server layer (dynamic lifecycle events).

Battery Pack Aadhaar is not intended to be a standalone compliance silo; instead, it is designed to enable and accelerate other emerging regulations by providing standardized reference identifiers, verified baseline attributes, and lifecycle event records that can be reused by respective methodologies/guidelines (e.g., SoH computation approaches, performance/durability reporting formats, circularity and dismantling pathways, carbon footprint accounting boundaries, and recycled content verification).

Additionally, Battery Pack Aadhaar becomes the “common digital spine” that different regulatory workstreams can reference, reducing duplication of data capture across agencies and stakeholders, improving auditability, supporting enforcement under EPR/BWM rules, and enabling harmonization/interoperability with global standards where required.

Who Does the Battery Pack Aadhaar System Support?

Using the Battery Pack Aadhaar system could help support key players in the value chain, track a battery’s journey, and drive the circular economy for batteries. The draft relies on a diverse ecosystem of “stakeholders,” ranging from raw material suppliers to recyclers, each contributing vital data throughout the battery’s lifecycle.

Battery cell and battery module suppliers are required to provide the information and documentation necessary to comply with the requirements of this document when supplying battery cells or modules to manufacturers. Collectively, their participation ensures transparency, promotes sustainability, and drives the circular economy for batteries.

Battery Pack Aadhaar’s technical design requires categorizing its many data attributes based on behavioral characteristics. Some attributes, such as a battery’s manufacturing date, are static and never change. In contrast, attributes such as state of health and battery status are dynamic and require frequent updates for their respective use cases. The Battery Pack Aadhaar system uses these “static” and “dynamic” classifications to group data attributes.

Dynamic data attributes in the Battery Pack Aadhaar are anticipated to evolve consistently throughout the battery’s lifecycle, as they capture changes in characteristics influenced by each battery’s unique usage patterns.

The Battery Pack Aadhaar methodology enables users to access essential battery pack data through an alphanumeric code, which is static and publicly available. Another set of data is available via a QR code, which is also static and accessible to a limited audience through an authorized access system. This information can be retrieved using the BPAN or an authorized QR code decoder. Server-based data is dynamic and restricted to private access, ensuring secure handling of sensitive information. The server utilizes the Battery Manufacturer Identifier (BMI) and Battery Identifier (BI) to ensure precise identification and reliable traceability of battery pack data. Table 2 outlines the data access structure.

Battery Pack Aadhaar Content

The Battery Manufacturer Identifier (BMI) consists of five characters pre-assigned by the national organization of the country. These five characters uniquely identify the country and manufacturer of the battery pack. The first two characters of the BMI typically represent the region in which the manufacturer is located, while the remaining three characters represent the manufacturer.

The Battery Descriptor Section (BDS) is designed to provide a concise summary of essential battery specifications, enabling quick access to critical information. It includes key parameters such as battery capacity, chemistry, voltage, and cell configuration, facilitating easy comparison across different battery models.