You cannot buy EVs or other electronics at the moment with batteries because the batteries have a limited lifetime, it's about time, integrated batteries should have never had been a thing.
EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)
71–80 of 198 posts
Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)
#72Note that devices falling under the Ecodesign Regulation are exempt from this Battery Regulation, in particular smartphones and tablets, if they fulfill certain durability and repairability requirements (which are roughly already met today, at least by Apple). So we won’t be seeing more easily replaceable batteries in smartphones and tablets.
The moment I saw the post title, I knew this couldn’t actually be true. Thanks for confirming that it isn’t.
Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)
#73Next EU could mandate an attitude adjustment to the industry wishing to sell their products in the European Common Market. Batteries are part of a device. There are other parts that can be replaced by the owner or third parties if there are sufficient parts supplies, either first-part or third-party, and these parts aren't explicitly killed by the device's DRM even if they're sourced outside of the manufacturer's own…
> The device can default to booting software signed by the manufacturer but the user should always be able to use a physical key to unlock the device and install his own keys and certificates instead. This part is not going to happen, because security services need their backdoors intact. If you supply user with keys, they might flash the device with more secure operating system rendering any surveillance effort frui…
If I worked in a European intelligence agency, and considering how the the official US security policy revolves around bringing about regime change in Europe in support of far right extremist parties, and how supportive the tech company leadership seems to be of those goals, I would probably think that locking that very real existential threat to their democracies out would be a worthwhile tradeoff.
Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)
#74The EU is displaying exactly the kind of political leadership we need in this topic: pro-consumer, pro-environment, and firmly against planned obsolescence. Removable batteries were the industry standard in the early days of mobile phones, and it worked perfectly. We only lost that standard when Apple’s 'walled garden' mindset infected the rest of the industry. The amount of avoidable e-waste generated since then is…
Re. mobile phones it is because it allows sleeker and thinner design, and IMHO it wasn't that common to replace batteries, anyway.
But, really this is a non-issue because if you need a new battery for you phone, including iphone and samsung, just get it replaced. That's not super common to need it (again) but there is no issue having it done. I had it done before.
So overall I am skeptical that it will make a difference or that people will keep devices like phones longer because of this new mandate. I also doubt that the EU Parliament has data on this because many of those new regulations seem very hand-wavy to me and usually presented as obvious.
Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)
#75Next EU could mandate an attitude adjustment to the industry wishing to sell their products in the European Common Market. Batteries are part of a device. There are other parts that can be replaced by the owner or third parties if there are sufficient parts supplies, either first-part or third-party, and these parts aren't explicitly killed by the device's DRM even if they're sourced outside of the manufacturer's own…
Is this level of device ownership actually desirable by EU powers? Replaceable batteries enable all consumers, device rooting only a very small subset. I would fly to Europe to buy my next phone if it ever happens though.
Us hardware EU software is an excellent stop gap until full digital autonomy.
Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks. So this is not going to lead to user-replaceable batteries on iPhones.
That seems a bit less clear to me. It seems to hinge on whether the courts believe that an iPhone is specifically designed to operate primarily in a wet environment.
Just iPhones sold in the UK then perhaps.
Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)
#77Are 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?
Sony made a water-proof phone long before fixed batteries became fashionable.
Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)
#78The EU is displaying exactly the kind of political leadership we need in this topic: pro-consumer, pro-environment, and firmly against planned obsolescence. Removable batteries were the industry standard in the early days of mobile phones, and it worked perfectly. We only lost that standard when Apple’s 'walled garden' mindset infected the rest of the industry. The amount of avoidable e-waste generated since then is…
Re. mobile phones it is because it allows sleeker and thinner design, and IMHO it wasn't that common to replace batteries, anyway. But, really this is a non-issue because if you need a new battery for you phone, including iphone and samsung, just get it replaced. That's not super common to need it (again) but there is no issue having it done. I had it done before. So overall I am skeptical that it will make a differe…
People choose the path of least resistance.
If you can quickly swap out an old phone battery with one you can purchase in a store, it's as easy as doing groceries.
If on the other hand you need to hand off your phone to a third party for repairs, and require people to make a backup of important data, maybe factory reset just in case, get a replacement device for the time without it, tell people you'll be unavailable for a bit... It's a big enough hurdle for people to think "well, guess it's a good enough excuse to upgrade to a new model". I've heard the latter too many times in my surroundings purely due to battery life issues.
Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)
#79The EU is displaying exactly the kind of political leadership we need in this topic: pro-consumer, pro-environment, and firmly against planned obsolescence. Removable batteries were the industry standard in the early days of mobile phones, and it worked perfectly. We only lost that standard when Apple’s 'walled garden' mindset infected the rest of the industry. The amount of avoidable e-waste generated since then is…
Re. mobile phones it is because it allows sleeker and thinner design, and IMHO it wasn't that common to replace batteries, anyway. But, really this is a non-issue because if you need a new battery for you phone, including iphone and samsung, just get it replaced. That's not super common to need it (again) but there is no issue having it done. I had it done before. So overall I am skeptical that it will make a differe…
The point being made is that if batteries can be replaced without specialized tools and training, the chances of that being done could be higher, potentially leading to longer usage time and reduced e-waste.
Re: EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see any Fairphone on the page, they are not sold in the US?
I'm not sure. I have not seen them on any large retailer in the USA like Amazon, Walmart, Newegg, BestBuy etc. Maybe if someone here is in the USA and has bought one, they can chime in and tell where they got it from?
Yes, they are. The Fairphone 6 is available in the US through their official partner Murena.