European Union rules requiring electronics to include easily replaceable batteries could force consumer tech makers to rethink their designs and go beyond the repairability improvements they’ve made in recent years.
The EU’s Batteries Regulation will require electronics hitting the market after February 2027 to include easily replaceable batteries. The aim was to minimise pollution from discarded batteries through recycling and reuse, and it was aimed at electric vehicles and micro-mobility solutions.
But the regulation isn’t restricted to e-bikes. Integrated batteries found in toys, video game consoles and wearable technology from Meta Platforms Inc and Apple Inc could also fall afoul of the rules. Selling products that don’t meet the rules risks recalls and bans.
Meta’s plans to sell the latest generation of its Ray-Ban Display glasses in the European Union are being delayed by supply constraints, the battery regulation and rules around artificial intelligence, people familiar with the matter said.
Other companies are making changes ahead of the deadline. Nintendo Co is planning to release a variant of its Switch 2 console in the EU that includes a user-replaceable battery, according to a report in Nikkei.
A representative for the European Commission didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Early laptops and smartphones allowed users to replace the battery with a spare to keep their products humming along. But gradually, as hardware designs grew thinner, sleeker and more sophisticated, this flexibility faded away.
Tech giants realised that battery compartments took up valuable space in their devices. Switching to non-user-replaceable batteries, they argued, would free up room for other components – and allow the battery itself to be larger. These sealed designs also helped make everyday gadgets more water resistant.
But over the last decade, the Right to Repair movement has gained momentum, with critics raising environmental concerns and pushing for phone makers like Apple, Samsung Electronics Co and others to come up with a less wasteful approach. A handful of US states have passed legislation that has made hardware easier to service, and manufacturers have introduced self-repair programs.
Apple made significant strides with its iPhone 16 series, with an easily removable back panel and a battery that could be removed by applying an electric current. Samsung made the batteries in its Galaxy smartphones easier to swap out by reducing the amount of glue and adhesives used in the process.
The European Union also wants replaceable batteries to return. It passed the Batteries Regulation in 2023, aiming to minimise pollution from discarded batteries through recycling and reuse. Exemptions were allowed for professional medical tools and devices intended for underwater use.
But the rules introduce enormous engineering challenges. Some product categories, like wireless earbuds, still have glued-in batteries that are nearly impossible to replace.
The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, is drafting potential new legislation to expand the list of exemptions, but it remains unclear whether any changes would be adopted in time to preempt the rules coming into force next year – or at all.
Leonardo Veneziani, a policy manager for the tech lobbying group CCIA, said that amending the regulation would be "the first real test” of the EU’s plan to cut red tape across the bloc.
"Treating batteries in wearables the same as those in old-school DIY tools is absurd,” Veneziani said. "When the Batteries Regulation was first debated, today’s next-gen wearables were barely on the horizon.” – Bloomberg
