Colloquia

Summary

Batteries play a crucial role in powering the devices we interact with regularly. Think of your smartphones or maybe even your electric vehicle. In 2030, the global demand for batteries is expected to increase fourteen times compared to 2019, this increased use of batteries brings some challenges. That is why the European Union (EU) adopted a new battery and battery waste regulation. The main goal of this regulation is to increase sustainability and safety during the complete lifecycle of batteries and to create a circular economy for all EU member states. However, this regulation brings major changes and challenges to the (re)design of electronic devices with batteries, especially in ensuring that batteries are removable and replaceable. This leads to the question of how to deal with these changes and challenges in (re)developing electronic products to comply with this regulation. To explore these challenges in a practical way, a powerbank -an electronic device with batteries in its most fundamental form- design case was carried out. This design case helped to understand the regulatory requirements and the implementation for other electronic devices. Consequently, the design case was used to develop a methodology to ensure strategic compliance for (powerbanks and other) battery-powered electronic devices. This resulted in the Ecomply Methodology, which provides practical and easy-to-use tools to ensure that batterypowered devices meet the regulatory requirements. The Ecomply Methodology is intended to support decision-making in three layers of users, i.e., product designers, Toppoint management, and external agencies or manufacturers.