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EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)

environment.ec.europa.eu

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Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)

#41

Post by dguest »

jl6 wrote: post #30

iPhone batteries are already replaceable, albeit most people have to pay Apple to do it. Does this count as replaceable under this mandate, or is there an expectation that batteries must be replaceable by end-consumers on their own? Any requirements for what level of skill and tooling end-consumers are expected to have access to, such as specialized screwdrivers and re-waterproofing adhesives?

cutting out quite a bit from section 11:

    A portable battery shall be ... removable by the end-user ... with the use of commercially available tools, without requiring the use of specialised tools, unless provided free of charge with the product, proprietary tools, thermal energy, or solvents to disassemble the product.

    Any ... person that [markets] products incorporating portable batteries shall ensure that those products are accompanied with instructions ...
in other words you need to either make it easy and safe with standard tooling or include the tools people need.

Waterproof products are also specifically exempt.

EDIT: the "waterproof" requirement might leave less room for abuse than you'd think. It only extends to

    appliances specifically designed to operate primarily in an environment that is regularly subject to splashing water, water streams or water immersion, and that are intended to be washable or rinseable;
under this definition you could argue that an iPhone is not exempt, since it's not designed to operate primarily in water. How this is enforced seems to be mostly up to the various countries.

Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)

#42

Post by bjackman »

hadrien01 wrote: post #19
shablulman wrote: post #6

[flagged]

Is this comment AI-generated? All recent comments from this account are two paragraphs-long, and are a vague retelling or the article.

I hate constantly discussing this but this one is quite interesting.

"It's a great example of..." definitely set off my slop alarm.

On the other hand it isn't actually "a vague retelling of the article" it's picking out a particular element that the commenter wanted to highlight.

Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)

#43

Post by dguest »

oulipo2 wrote: post #39
cyrusmg wrote: post #2

It came up recently in local news. I wonder how they force that for earphones...

The regulation is mostly meant for light electric vehicles for now

Where do you get this from? From what I could see it applied to everything from cars to laptops.

Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)

#46

Post by LtWorf »

IshKebab wrote: post #24

Are they going to have an exception for waterproof phones? Seems like it would be challenging to implement replaceable batteries while maintaining waterproofing. Are there any waterproof phones on the market with removable batteries?

Before they found out they could sell more phones glueing batteries, my waterproof phone had a replaceable battery and a 3.5mm jack.

Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)

#47

Post by vinc »

mg wrote: post #10

I have been maintaining this chart of phones with replaceable batteries available in the USA for 10 years now: https://www.productchart.com/smartphones/removable_battery Man, is it empty these days. The chart used to be pretty full. Now it only has about 1% of all phones that are in the Product Chart database. As the other 99% have fixed batteries. I'm looking forward to see if the EU decision will push some companie…

I don't see any Fairphone on the page, they are not sold in the US?

Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)

#48

Post by jl6 »

dguest wrote: post #41
jl6 wrote: post #30

iPhone batteries are already replaceable, albeit most people have to pay Apple to do it. Does this count as replaceable under this mandate, or is there an expectation that batteries must be replaceable by end-consumers on their own? Any requirements for what level of skill and tooling end-consumers are expected to have access to, such as specialized screwdrivers and re-waterproofing adhesives?

cutting out quite a bit from section 11: A portable battery shall be ... removable by the end-user ... with the use of commercially available tools, without requiring the use of specialised tools, unless provided free of charge with the product, proprietary tools, thermal energy, or solvents to disassemble the product. Any ... person that [markets] products incorporating portable batteries shall ensure that those pro…

Thanks. So this is not going to lead to user-replaceable batteries on iPhones.

Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)

#49

Post by VorpalWay »

IshKebab wrote: post #24

Are they going to have an exception for waterproof phones? Seems like it would be challenging to implement replaceable batteries while maintaining waterproofing. Are there any waterproof phones on the market with removable batteries?

Why? You can use an o-ring around the seal and screws to press it together. Even simpler: a water bottle like you might bring to the gym or while hiking is water proof, without needing glue. It is a solved problem. But the solution adds tens of eurocents to the cost of the phone, so the manufacturers won't do it unless they are forced to.

Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)

#50

Post by tonyedgecombe »

lozenge wrote: post #27
relistan wrote: post #8

It’s not clear to me from this, but I hope that the “removability” component of this means the end of “disposable” vapes with a fixed lithium battery installed. I can’t even count the number of these I’ve seen littering the roadside. Ideally this raises the cost of that business model enough to also eliminate some vendors from that product category (“disposable” vapes), which is primarily aimed at/used by children an…

The UK banned disposable vapes, the suppliers now add a charging port and the ability to put in refills. The refills cost as much or more than the vapes so now people throw away the "reusable" vapes as if they were disposable.

Unintentional consequences. I expect there will be some from this law as well.
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