UPPS Standard

Universal Product Passport Standards (UPPS)

Version 1.0

Effective: May 2026

UPPS 601: Battery Product Disclosures

Industry-specific standard for disclosing battery product information, including performance, materials, environmental impact, and end-of-life management.

What this standard does: UPPS 601 tells battery manufacturers what information they must share about their products so that buyers, regulators, and recyclers can make informed decisions. This includes details about battery chemistry, capacity, lifespan, materials used, carbon footprint, and how to safely recycle the battery at end of life.

1

Introduction

Why batteries need their own disclosure standard: Batteries are not like other products. They contain valuable and sometimes hazardous materials, they degrade over time, and they require specialized recycling. As the world transitions to electric vehicles and renewable energy storage, batteries have become critical infrastructure and regulators worldwide are demanding detailed information about them.

What makes batteries unique: Unlike a t-shirt or a laptop, a battery's value and safety depend on precise technical specifications. A buyer needs to know: How much energy does it store? How long will it last? What materials are inside? Can it be recycled? Is it safe? These questions can't be answered with generic product information.

The regulatory context: The European Union's Battery Regulation, California's battery labeling laws, and similar rules in China and other jurisdictions now require manufacturers to provide detailed "battery passports" digital records that follow the battery throughout its life. UPPS 601 provides a universal framework that works across all these regulations.

How this standard helps: UPPS 601 extends the core UPPS standards (101, 201, 301, 401, 501) by adding battery-specific requirements. Instead of creating separate disclosures for each country, manufacturers can use UPPS 601 to create one comprehensive battery passport that satisfies multiple regulatory requirements.

2

Objective

The goal of this standard: UPPS 601 ensures that anyone who needs to make a decision about a battery whether they're buying it, regulating it, recycling it, or investing in the company that makes it has access to the information they need.

Specifically, this standard enables users to:

  • Assess environmental impact: Understand the carbon footprint of manufacturing the battery, how much energy it took to make, and what happens to it at end of life
  • Understand what's inside: Know exactly which materials are in the battery (lithium, cobalt, nickel, etc.), where they came from, and whether they were responsibly sourced
  • Evaluate circularity: Determine how much of the battery can be recycled, what happens to it when it's no longer useful, and whether it contains recycled materials
  • Analyze supply chain risks: Trace where critical minerals came from, identify potential human rights or environmental risks in the supply chain, and verify ethical sourcing claims
  • Make informed purchasing decisions: Compare batteries based on performance, lifespan, safety, and environmental impact not just price

In plain language: This standard ensures that battery manufacturers can't hide important information. It creates a level playing field where all manufacturers disclose the same information in the same way, making it possible to compare products fairly and hold companies accountable.

3

Scope

UPPS 601 applies to all battery products, including:

  • Electric vehicle batteries
  • Industrial batteries
  • Portable batteries

Organizations shall apply this Standard in conjunction with:

  • UPPS 101 — General Product Disclosures
  • UPPS 201 — Environmental Product Disclosures
  • UPPS 301 — Circularity Product Disclosures
  • UPPS 401 — Supply Chain and Traceability Disclosures
4

Industry Context

Batteries have complex supply chains and significant environmental and social impacts.

Key considerations include:

  • Use of critical raw materials (e.g., lithium, cobalt, nickel)
  • Energy-intensive manufacturing processes
  • Lifecycle emissions and resource use
  • End-of-life management and recycling

Regulatory frameworks increasingly require detailed product-level disclosures for batteries, making standardized disclosure essential.

5

Battery-Specific Disclosures

Organizations shall disclose the following additional information for each battery product.

5.1Battery PerformanceUPPS 601.5.1

What You Must Disclose

Manufacturers must provide clear, measurable performance specifications that allow buyers to compare different batteries.

Required Information

  • Rated capacity: How much energy the battery can store, measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh) for large batteries or amp-hours (Ah) for smaller ones. Example: A 75 kWh battery in an electric vehicle can store enough energy to power the car for about 300 miles.
  • Energy density: How much energy is packed into each kilogram of battery weight (Wh/kg). Higher is better it means more range for the same weight. Example: 250 Wh/kg means each kilogram of battery provides 250 watt-hours of energy.
  • Cycle life: How many times the battery can be fully charged and discharged before its capacity drops below 80% of original. Example: 2,000 cycles means the battery should last for 2,000 full charge/discharge cycles before significant degradation.
  • Round-trip efficiency: What percentage of energy put into the battery can be retrieved. Example: 95% efficiency means if you put in 100 kWh, you can get 95 kWh back out.

Why This Matters

These specifications determine whether a battery is suitable for its intended use. A buyer comparing electric vehicle batteries needs to know: Will this battery give me enough range? How long will it last? Is it worth the price? Without standardized performance data, it's impossible to make informed comparisons.

5.2Lifecycle Environmental ImpactUPPS 601.5.2

What You Must Disclose

Manufacturers must report the total environmental impact of making, using, and disposing of the battery not just the emissions from using it.

Required Information

  • Carbon footprint per kWh: Total greenhouse gas emissions from making the battery, divided by its capacity. Example: 75 kg CO2e per kWh means a 50 kWh battery created 3,750 kg (3.75 tons) of CO2 emissions during manufacturing.
  • Manufacturing energy: How much energy was used to make the battery. Example: 500 kWh of energy to manufacture a 50 kWh battery means it took 10 times more energy to make than it can store.
  • Lifecycle breakdown: What percentage of total environmental impact comes from: (1) mining raw materials, (2) manufacturing, (3) transportation, (4) use phase, and (5) end-of-life. Example: 40% mining, 35% manufacturing, 5% transport, 10% use, 10% disposal.

Why This Matters

Electric vehicles are only "green" if their batteries don't create massive emissions during manufacturing. By requiring manufacturers to disclose the full carbon footprint, this standard helps buyers choose truly low-carbon batteries and creates incentives for manufacturers to reduce emissions throughout the supply chain.

5.3Critical MaterialsUPPS 601.5.3

What You Must Disclose

Manufacturers must identify every critical mineral in the battery and explain where it came from. This is crucial because some of these materials come from conflict zones or environmentally destructive mines.

Required Information

  • Material list: Every critical mineral in the battery, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, and rare earth elements. Example: "This battery contains lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and graphite."
  • Quantity of each material: How much of each critical mineral is in the battery, by weight or percentage. Example: "12 kg lithium, 8 kg cobalt, 15 kg nickel per 50 kWh battery pack."
  • Country of origin: Where each material was mined. Example: "Lithium from Australia, cobalt from Democratic Republic of Congo, nickel from Indonesia."
  • Recycled content: What percentage of each material came from recycled batteries versus virgin mining. Example: "25% of cobalt is recycled, 75% is newly mined."
  • Responsible sourcing certification: Whether materials were certified as conflict-free or responsibly sourced (e.g., Responsible Minerals Initiative, Fair Cobalt Alliance).

Why This Matters

The cobalt problem: About 70% of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where mining is often linked to child labor and dangerous working conditions. By requiring manufacturers to disclose where their cobalt comes from and whether it's responsibly sourced, this standard creates pressure to clean up supply chains. Similarly, lithium mining can devastate local water supplies, and nickel mining can destroy rainforests. Transparency is the first step toward accountability.

5.4Battery Durability and DegradationUPPS 601.5.4

Disclosure Requirement

Organizations shall disclose information on battery durability and degradation.

Required Disclosures

  • Expected degradation rate
  • Performance over lifecycle
  • Factors affecting degradation

Guidance

Disclosures should enable understanding of long-term battery performance.

5.5Recyclability and RecoveryUPPS 601.5.5

Disclosure Requirement

Organizations shall disclose recyclability and material recovery potential.

Required Disclosures

  • Percentage of recyclable materials
  • Recovery efficiency
  • Availability of recycling processes

Guidance

Disclosures should reflect real-world recycling conditions.

Battery circularity is critical for reducing environmental impact and ensuring resource security. Effective recycling and material recovery enable the reuse of valuable materials, reduce dependence on primary extraction, and support the transition to a circular economy.

5.6Second-Life ApplicationsUPPS 601.5.6

Disclosure Requirement

Organizations shall disclose the potential for second-life use of batteries.

Required Disclosures

  • Suitability for reuse in secondary applications
  • Conditions for second-life use
  • Expected performance in second-life

Guidance

Disclosures should support circular economy use cases.

5.7Supply Chain TraceabilityUPPS 601.5.7

Disclosure Requirement

Organizations shall disclose traceability of key materials and components.

Required Disclosures

  • Traceability of critical materials to origin
  • Supplier tiers covered
  • Verification of sourcing practices

Guidance

Traceability disclosures should reflect actual supply chain visibility.

6

Measurement Guidance

Organizations shall apply methodologies that are consistent, transparent, and aligned with recognized industry practices.

Where battery-specific methodologies exist, organizations should apply them.

Assumptions and limitations shall be disclosed.

7

Presentation of Information

Organizations shall present battery disclosures in a manner that is:

  • Clear and understandable
  • Comparable across products
  • Consistent with UPPS core standards
8

Relationship with UPPS Standards

UPPS 601 extends:

  • UPPS 101
  • UPPS 201
  • UPPS 301
  • UPPS 401

It does not replace them.

9

Regulatory Alignment

UPPS 601 is designed to support alignment with battery-related regulations, including:

  • EU Battery Regulation
  • ESPR battery requirements

UPPS 601 enables structured disclosures that can be mapped directly to regulatory requirements, supporting multi-jurisdiction compliance and reducing reporting burden through a unified disclosure framework.

10

Transition Provisions

Organizations may adopt UPPS 601 progressively.

Where full data is not available, organizations shall disclose:

  • Data availability
  • Limitations
  • Plans for improvement