Hyundai Motor and three battery companies form ”passport alliance” - South Korea

South Korea's Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, along with three major battery manufacturers, have teamed up to comply with the European Union's (EU) "digital battery passport" mandate.
According to industry sources, Hyundai Motor and Kia, along with LG Energy Solutions, Samsung SDI, and SK On, have signed a strategic alliance to strengthen the safety of electric vehicle batteries.
They have signed an agreement to improve quality and will promote the development of a digital battery passport as one of their main priorities. Automakers and battery manufacturers will work together to ensure safety technology.
This is the first time that a battery passport has been implemented. The battery passport is a system that digitally records the entire process of battery production, use and recycling. The EU will implement a 2k
The plan is to make the passport mandatory for automotive and industrial batteries with a capacity of 1000 Wh or more, and without this passport electric vehicles will not be able to be sold in the European market.
In the first half of this year, sales of pure electric vehicles in Europe reached 1.19 million units, a 25% increase compared to the same period last year. Rapid growth is expected to continue, with Europe
If the expansion into the state market is hindered, not only Hyundai and Kia but also the three battery companies that supply them will be hit hard. The problem is that developing the Passport is by no means easy.
It is necessary to integrate a huge amount of data, such as production history, accident records, and recycling methods, and it is also necessary to record information on the battery's condition and lifespan, collect and recycle obligations, and determine the carbon emissions of each factory.
Strict regulations must be met, including long-term storage of reports and documents. Jung Whee-sang, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Industrial Technology Advancement, said, "The battery passport will help us understand the life cycle of the battery.
"It is necessary to record the entire situation, which would be difficult for individual companies to handle on their own," he said. "There are also many issues, such as concerns about the leakage of trade secrets, so a joint response is essential."
Major overseas countries have already made significant preparations. China is running a state-led battery tracking platform.
Japan will also introduce a management system from 2023. Germany and other European countries are also creating standard guidelines and trial operation systems.
In particular, battery passport data will be used as a trust index to prove the safety and history of electric vehicles, regardless of whether the system becomes mandatory.
It is predicted that in the future, the presence or absence of a passport will become a key factor in determining the competitiveness of a product. Researcher Jung said, "Korea was relatively slow to respond, but as collaboration between companies has become more widespread,
"It is significant that the government has also begun to provide support," he said, adding, "In a market where regulations and standards are being rapidly developed, companies can cooperate to build a joint response system, which will give them an advantage in staying ahead of the market."
"It will be," he emphasized.