Is My Battery in Scope? A Check by Type, Capacity and Chemistry

Before you spend time gathering passport data, the first question to settle is whether a given battery is even in scope. Under the EU Battery Regulation, that turns on a small set of attributes: the battery type, its capacity, its chemistry, and the date you place it on the EU market. This guide walks through the check so you can sort your range with confidence. It is the article twin of our scope checker.

Start with the type

The regulation sorts batteries into categories, and the category decides most of the outcome:

• LMT batteries power light means of transport such as e-bikes, e-scooters and other light electric vehicles. They are in scope at any capacity.
• Industrial batteries are in scope above a capacity threshold, including stationary energy storage. See industrial battery passport requirements.
• EV batteries for electric vehicles are covered, with their own attribute set.
• Portable batteries and other categories follow their own rules and timelines.

Getting the type right matters because it changes whether capacity even applies.

Then check the capacity

Capacity is decisive for industrial batteries: the passport duty applies above 2 kWh. A stationary storage unit over that line is caught; a small industrial cell below it may not be.

For LMT batteries, capacity does not gate scope. There is no lower threshold, so a modest e-scooter pack is treated the same as a large cargo-bike pack. If your battery is an LMT battery, you can skip the capacity question for the purposes of scope.

Chemistry and the finer detail

Chemistry rarely removes a battery from scope on its own, but it shapes the data you will need to declare, from hazardous substances to recycled content of the relevant metals. Recording the chemistry now also makes the later Annex XIII data request to your supplier much cleaner, because several fields depend on it.

The date you place it on the market

Scope also depends on timing. The passport requirement applies to batteries placed on the EU market from 18 February 2027. "Placed on the market" has a specific meaning under the regulation, and it is not the same as the day a product is manufactured or shipped. If you are unsure how it applies to your goods, see when a battery counts as placed on the EU market.

Run the check per model, not per shipment

Scope is a property of the battery model, so run the check once per model you import rather than per shipment:

1. Identify the category (LMT, industrial, EV, or other).
2. If industrial, confirm the capacity against the 2 kWh line.
3. Record the chemistry, which drives later data fields.
4. Confirm the model will be placed on the market on or after 18 February 2027.

Any model that clears those steps needs a passport. Our scope checker runs the same logic and gives you a result you can keep for your records.

In short

Scope comes down to type, capacity, chemistry and timing. LMT batteries are in at any capacity; industrial batteries are in above 2 kWh; the duty applies to batteries placed on the market from 18 February 2027. Check each model once, record the chemistry while you are there, and you will know exactly which passports you have to build.