The battery regulation has its first harmonised standard. EN 18060 covers only EV batteries, and it measures the numbers your passport shows

On 16 September 2026 the Official Journal published Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2048. It cites one standard, EN 18060:2025, on the performance and durability of electric vehicle batteries and modules. It is the first harmonised standard under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542: a search of the EU publications database on 26 October 2026 found no other decision citing standards under the battery regulation. A battery measured according to EN 18060 is presumed to conform with the regulation, to the extent the standard covers its requirements. It covers EV batteries only, not LMT batteries and not industrial batteries, and it changes no date. What it changes is the answer to a question every passport has to state: which reference test did you use?

What was published

The decision is short. In December 2021 the Commission asked CEN and Cenelec, by Implementing Decision C(2021)8614, to draft harmonised standards in support of the future battery regulation. On that basis CEN drafted EN 18060:2025. The Commission assessed it against the request, found that it satisfies the requirements it aims to cover, and published its reference. The decision entered into force on the day of publication, 16 September 2026, and from that day the presumption of conformity applies.

The full title is Road vehicles - Rechargeable batteries with internal energy storage - Performance and durability of alkali-ion (Li-ion, Na-ion), Pb, NiMH and combined chemistries EV modules and batteries. The standard is sold by the national standards bodies; we have not read it and do not quote it. Its public description says it sets the steps and conditions for measuring, in particular, rated capacity in Ah, rated power in W, internal resistance in ohms and energy round trip efficiency in percent, for batteries, packs and modules intended for:

• motor vehicles of categories M and N with a traction battery, that is cars, buses, vans and trucks;
• L-category vehicles, such as motorcycles and quadricycles, with a traction battery of more than 25 kg.

What a harmonised standard gives you

Article 15(3) of the battery regulation: batteries that conform with harmonised standards, or parts of them, whose references are published in the Official Journal are presumed to meet the requirements of Articles 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 78, to the extent those requirements are covered by the standard. In practice:

• The presumption is only as wide as the standard. EN 18060 is about performance and durability, which is Article 10 and Annex IV. It does not give you a presumption on safety (Article 12), labelling (Article 13) or the battery management system (Article 14) beyond what it actually covers. The scope stated in the standard itself decides, so read it before you claim more.
• It is voluntary. Article 15(1) requires reliable, accurate and reproducible methods that reflect the state of the art, including methods in cited standards. You can use another method, but then you have to show in your technical documentation why it is good enough, without the shortcut of a presumption.
• It has to be declared. The technical documentation lists the harmonised standards applied, in full or in part, and which parts (Annex VIII, Part A, point 2(e)). The EU declaration of conformity names the harmonised standards used (Annex IX, point 6).

EV only: where the line falls

The regulation defines categories by use and weight, and the standard follows the EV definition. Article 3: an electric vehicle battery provides traction to hybrid or electric vehicles of categories M, N or O, or of category L where it weighs more than 25 kg. An LMT battery is sealed, weighs 25 kg or less and powers light means of transport, such as e-bikes and e-scooters. So:

• EV batteries: EN 18060:2025 is cited. Its public scope names categories M, N and heavy L; trailers of category O are not mentioned in it.
• LMT batteries: no harmonised standard on performance and durability.
• Industrial batteries above 2 kWh, including home storage: no harmonised standard on performance and durability.

All three categories have had the same obligation since 18 August 2024 under Article 10(1): a document with the values of the performance and durability parameters of Annex IV, Part A, and an explanation in the technical documentation of the technical specifications, standards and conditions used to measure, calculate or estimate them. EV makers now have a cited method for that explanation. The others still write their own.

Where it meets the passport

The battery passport repeats these values. Annex XIII, point 1, letters (g) to (p), lists the public data on performance and durability of the battery model; point 4(a) adds the values of the Article 10(1) parameters for each individual battery, when it is placed on the market and when its status changes. In the numbering of the Commission guidance on the 71 passport data points:

• Directly named in the public scope of EN 18060: rated capacity (field 11), original power capability (29), initial round trip efficiency and at 50% of cycle life (36 and 37), internal cell and pack resistance (38), and their per-battery counterparts with fade or increase (51 to 58).
• The test reference itself: field 32, the reference test used for the expected lifetime in cycles (field 31). For an EV battery measured according to EN 18060, this is where the standard is named, with the conditions: temperature, C-rate of the cycle-life test (field 39) and depth of discharge.
• Not a measurement question: voltages (26 to 28), the commercial warranty (35) and the capacity threshold for exhaustion (33, EV only), which the manufacturer declares.

The standard also matters for the elements Annex IV, Part B, requires in the explanation: discharge and charge rate, the ratio between power and energy, depth of discharge in the cycle-life test, power capability at 80% and 20% state of charge, and any calculations performed. Whether EN 18060 fixes each of these, or leaves some to the manufacturer, is in the text of the standard.

Meanwhile, industrial batteries get minimum values without a standard

Two weeks after the decision, on 29 September 2026, the Commission published a draft delegated regulation for industrial batteries above 2 kWh (initiative 14460 in the register, document Ares(2026)9188325). The feedback window ran from 29 September to 27 October 2026; on 26 October it had 13 responses. The act was due by 18 February 2026 under Article 10(5). It is a draft, and the final text can change, but it shows how the other half of Article 10 will work:

• Minimum values for four parameters only: capacity fade, expected lifetime in cycles, expected lifetime in years and round trip efficiency. Home storage systems are held to the strictest values, for example more than 3,000 full equivalent cycles and round trip efficiency above 93%; lead-based and on-demand batteries get separate thresholds.
• Stress factors instead of a standard. Measurement must be in line with Article 15, and the results are adjusted by factors for ambient temperature, depth of discharge and C-rate set out in tables in the annex. No harmonised standard is named.
• Second-life batteries are deemed compliant if they met the minimum values in their first life, including the battery durability requirements of the Euro 7 regulation or UN Global Technical Regulation No 22 for vehicle batteries.
• Passport carrier standards. The same draft rewrites Article 77(3): the QR code would have to comply with EN 18220:2026 and the unique identifier with EN 18219:2026, or their equivalent. More on the code itself in our text on battery QR marking.

The minimum values for industrial batteries apply from 18 August 2027 or 18 months after the delegated act enters into force, whichever is later (Article 10(2)). For LMT batteries the act is due by 18 February 2027 and the values apply from 18 August 2028 at the earliest.

What to do

• EV battery makers: ask your test lab whether the values in your Article 10(1) document were measured according to EN 18060:2025. If yes, list it in the technical documentation and in point 6 of the declaration of conformity, and name it in field 32 of the passport with the test conditions.
• If you used another method, keep the explanation with the Annex IV, Part B elements. It stays valid; you just do not get the presumption.
• LMT and industrial battery makers: nothing to switch to. Describe your method as before. Industrial makers should read the draft minimum values now, because the stress factors decide which reference conditions they will have to document.
• Everyone: keep the passport values and the Article 10(1) document identical. They describe the same battery, and an authority will compare them.

What this is not

This is not a new obligation and not a new date. The passport still starts on 18 February 2027, and the Article 10(1) document has been required since 18 August 2024.

This is not a mandatory test method. A harmonised standard is the easiest way to show conformity, not the only one.

This is not a standard for every battery. LMT and industrial batteries have no cited standard on performance and durability, and no category has a cited standard on safety under Article 12 yet.

This is not a summary of the standard. We have read the decision, the regulation and the public description of EN 18060, not its text.

How to check this yourself

The decision is at eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2026/2048/oj; its annex has a single line. Any further standards will come in new implementing decisions on harmonised standards for batteries drafted in support of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, the same wording as in this title. The draft on industrial batteries is in the Have your say portal under initiative 14460. For the passport side in general, see where the horizontal passport standards stand.

FAQ

Łukasz Głuch

Builds DPPera, a digital product passport tool for small and medium-sized companies. Reads the delegated acts so you do not have to. Writes about what he checked in the registry, not about what vendors promise.

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