Belgian battery recycling organisation Bebat and DSO Fluvius and Energy Web have launched a blockchain lifecycle battery asset management solution.

The open source solution named EasyBat is aimed to simplify the process of recycling or disposal of damaged or end of life batteries.

The solution built on Energy Web’s Decentralised Operating System technology stack and Switchboard identity management tool focuses on the entire battery lifecycle. It enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), distributors, installers and accredited inspection and certification organisations to issue and verify every relevant asset transaction.

“By having created a decentralised digital passport, the entire logistic flow from put-on-market all the way to reverse logistics for the takeback obligation and waste collection is digitised on a decentralised digitally trusted ledger,” said Philippe Decrock from Bebat.

“This represents a revolutionary, customer-centric solution and affirms a key business case for distributed ledger technology.”

The solution is the second of its type to emerge. In the US, the blockchain technology startup Everledger is leading the development of a prototype app with Department of Energy funding to support its portable electronic lithium-ion battery recycling drive.

With the growth in home electronic devices alongside the adoption of distributed energy resources such as residential batteries and electric vehicles, the need for a responsible recycling approach has become more important than ever.

In December, the European Commission issued proposals under its Circular Economy Action Plan to modernise battery legislation to make batteries more sustainable throughout their life cycle.

The aim is to increase the collection and recycling of portable batteries from the current rate of 45% up to 65% in 2025 and 70% in 2030. Other industrial, automotive or electric vehicle batteries have to be collected in full.

The core of the proposal is a Battery Passport for data sharing in order to increase transparency in the market.

EasyBat effectively provides a battery passport. The solution should enable Bebat and DSOs such as Fluvius to monitor batteries throughout their full value chain, from manufacturing to sales to providing energy services such as grid flexibility to secondary re-use in the case of electric vehicle batteries to end-of-life disposal.

“This approach extends far beyond tracking the history of every distributed resource throughout its lifetime, from manufacturing to operation to end-of-life recycling or decommissioning,” says Bart Coelus of Fluvius.

“Creating digital twins of assets, especially distributed resources at the grid edge, gives grid operators like Fluvius unprecedented visibility into the physical grid they manage. That digital representation of the actual grid will be the core layer of future grid operations.”

Bebat is a Belgian non-profit association established in 1995 by battery manufacturers including Duracell, Energizer, Varta and Panasonic to enable companies to meet the take-back obligation for the Belgian market. Bebat has 24,000 battery collection points and also collects industrial and electric vehicle batteries.