Digital battery passports as supporting tool for sustainable battery life cycle management

Session
TU.1.E || Digital Technologies for a Circular Economy

Authors
Berger, Katharina; Baumgartner, Rupert J.; Weinzerl, Martin; Bachler, Johann; Schöggl, Josef Peter

Abstract
Digital battery passports have the potential to support its users in their sustainable and circular product management efforts by gathering and providing primary or even real-time data of their respective real-world counterpart. One potential use case for such an application is the conduct of dynamic environmental and social life cycle assessments (LCA) which in turn may be used to improve the environmental and social performance on product level. In general, for a digital battery passport being able to support its users, respective data needs and requirements have to be identified to develop a corresponding underlying information model. This research provides a conceptual information model of a digital battery passport (DBP) for an electric vehicle traction battery (EVB) in the context of sustainable circular product management with focus on (dynamic) LCA. The conceptual model was developed by conducting a stakeholder mapping according to SCOPIS (supply chain-orientated process to identify stakeholders), which allowed to identify EVB value chain stakeholders, or rather potential DBP users; literature reviews; subsequent focus group workshops and follow-up interviews/surveys with industry experts (e.g., from R&D, battery supply chain and production). The derived conceptual information model details potential data types and sources and outlines which of the data that can be made available via a DBP, can be used in a dynamic LCA. The preliminary concept of the information model constitutes of four information categories: (1) product information, (2) sustainability and circularity properties, (3) battery diagnostics, and (4) value chain actors. These categories comprise underlying information levels which contain, next to sustainability performance-related information, more in-depth information on battery performance-related properties and electrical engineering-related properties.