A record to interpret, not a magic health score
A battery passport brings structured information about a battery into a digital record. For a buyer, the useful exercise is to identify what each field describes: the battery model when produced, the individual battery, or a dated observation. Those are different levels of evidence.
The EU framework is introduced in our Battery Passport overview, including its scope and date. A passport should not be assumed to exist for every older EV, and a record should not be assumed to make all information public.
Five checks before using a field
- Confirm which battery and configuration the record identifies.
- Read the field definition and units.
- Check whether it is a original specification or an updated observation.
- Find the date and responsible source.
- Note access limits and missing values.
Keep the diagnostic question separate
A record can be valuable without replacing a physical inspection or a suitable battery test. Ask what evidence supports any claim about present condition. EVVerity explains the concepts; it does not retrieve, issue or authenticate a passport.
Passport, specification or health report?
For a used-EV buyer, the first useful distinction is the purpose of the record. A specification tells you about a documented version; a diagnostic report describes an assessment at a stated time; a passport provides structured battery information with its own provenance and access rules. One should not silently replace another.
| Record | Useful question | Still needs checking |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle specification | What was this version designed to offer? | Does this exact configuration match the car? |
| Battery health report | What did this method find on this date? | What was measured, inferred or reported? |
| Battery passport | What information is available for this battery? | Who supplied each field, when and under what definition? |
Further reading & scope
Battery Passport explained, with the official EU regulation source. This page is EVVerity’s practical reading checklist, not a compliance specification. Reviewed 23 September 2026.