EU Batteries Regulation Article 8 recycled content calculation FAQ

The first group comprises industrial batteries with a capacity greater than 2 kWh, except batteries with exclusively external storage, electric vehicle batteries, and starting, lighting and ignition batteries. The battery must contain cobalt, lead, lithium, or nickel in active materials. Documentation of recovered-content shares starts on the later of 18 August 2028 or 24 months after the Article 8 delegated methodology enters into force.

LMT batteries are phased in separately. Their information-documentation requirement starts on 18 August 2033 when they contain one of the four listed materials, and they join the minimum-share requirement on 18 August 2036.

An LMT battery is a sealed traction battery weighing 25 kg or less for a wheeled vehicle powered by an electric motor alone or by motor and human power; it excludes an electric vehicle battery. An SLI battery is designed to supply starting, lighting, or ignition power and may also provide auxiliary or backup power in vehicles, other transport, or machinery. Classification depends on the complete definitions in Article 3, not only the product's trade name.

Article 8(4) excludes a battery that was already placed on the market or put into service before it underwent preparation for re-use, preparation for repurposing, repurposing, or remanufacturing. Record the battery's earlier market or service status before relying on this exclusion.

The Article 8 material list is narrow: cobalt, lead, lithium, and nickel. For cobalt, lithium, and nickel, the documented share concerns material present in active materials and recovered from battery manufacturing waste or post-consumer waste. For lead, the documented share concerns lead present in the battery and recovered from waste.

Copper, graphite, manganese, steel, aluminium, plastics, and a battery-wide recycled-content total are outside the four-material calculation stated in Article 8. Article 8(6) allows the Commission to add materials by delegated act where battery-chemistry market developments justify it, so teams should check the current consolidated rule before fixing a long-term material list.

From 18 August 2031, technical documentation for the first group must demonstrate minimum recovered shares of 16% cobalt, 85% lead, 6% lithium, and 6% nickel. Apply only the percentage for a listed material present in the battery under the Article 8 trigger; do not average the four percentages into one battery score.

From 18 August 2036, the minimum shares become 26% cobalt, 85% lead, 12% lithium, and 15% nickel. The covered categories then include industrial batteries above 2 kWh except those with exclusively external storage, EV batteries, LMT batteries, and SLI batteries.

Article 8 states these percentages but also requires the Commission to assess them after the methodology act enters into force and no later than 31 December 2028. The Commission may amend the targets by 18 August 2029 where its assessment justifies a change. Recheck the consolidated legal text before using the percentages in a release decision.

Article 8 documentation is organized by battery model, calendar year, and manufacturing plant. Annex VIII requires technical documentation to include a study supporting the recycled-content share, calculations made under the Article 8 delegated methodology, and the evidence and information that determine the input data.

Under Annex VIII's production-quality-assurance route, the quality system must describe how the parameters and data needed to calculate and update the recycled-content share are monitored. The notified body checks the reliability of the data and proper implementation of the methodology. Annex VIII also requires the manufacturer to keep the technical documentation available to national authorities for 10 years after the battery is placed on the market.

No. Article 8 requires the Commission to adopt a delegated act by 18 August 2026 establishing the battery-model calculation and verification methodology and the documentation format. The first information duty begins on the later of 18 August 2028 or 24 months after that act enters into force, so its entry-into-force date controls the first-group start date. Before finalizing a calculation, verify whether the act has been adopted and entered into force and check its transition terms.

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/606 is related but different. It establishes methodology and documentation for recycler recycling-efficiency rates and recovery-of-materials rates from waste batteries, including cobalt, copper, lead, lithium, and nickel. Those recycler records can be relevant upstream evidence, but they should not be cited as the Article 8 battery-model recycled-content methodology.