Why Excel Fails for Battery Passports
Many companies initially reach for the tool they know best: Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. For initial data collection, this may work, but as soon as a standards-compliant digital battery passport based on DIN SPEC 99100 needs to be created, spreadsheets reach their limits. The problems are not abstract but very concrete:
No schema validation. DIN SPEC 99100 defines exact data types, mandatory fields, and value ranges for every single data point. In a spreadsheet, there is no automatic check whether a field contains the correct data type, whether mandatory fields are filled, or whether values fall within permitted ranges. Wrong data types, missing mandatory entries, and inconsistent formats go unnoticed until the export fails or an authority reviews the data.
No standardized structure. Every team, every location, and every supplier creates its own spreadsheet structure. Different column names, varying units, divergent formats: consolidating this data into a unified structure requires significant manual effort and is a permanent source of errors.
No versioning and change tracking. Who changed which field and when? In a shared Excel file, this question is nearly impossible to answer. For regulatory requirements where traceability of data changes may be relevant, this represents a significant risk.
No export to required formats. The digital battery passport requires machine-readable data, typically in JSON format, validated against the DIN SPEC 99100 schema. A schema-valid JSON cannot be generated from an Excel spreadsheet. Likewise, there is no capability to automatically generate QR codes or standardized PDF documents.
No access control. In a professional production environment, different departments work on different data areas: procurement, quality management, engineering, sustainability. Excel offers no role-based access control to ensure that each team can only edit the relevant sections.
Does not scale. For a single battery model, a spreadsheet may still be manageable. But companies with dozens or hundreds of product variants quickly reach the limits of what is administrable. Maintaining parallel spreadsheets becomes a full-time job, and errors become more likely with every additional product.
What Battery Passport Software Must Deliver
Professional battery passport software solves precisely the problems that spreadsheets cannot handle. The core requirements for such a tool are:
- DIN SPEC 99100 data structure: The complete data structure of the specification must be built into the system, with all seven categories, mandatory fields, and optional fields. You don't need to engage with the technical specification yourself.
- Guided data entry: A step-by-step process that divides data entry into seven clearly delineated steps, corresponding to the seven data categories of DIN SPEC 99100 (identification, materials, carbon footprint, due diligence, circularity, performance, labeling).
- Field validation: Automatic checks of mandatory fields, data types, value ranges, and formats directly during input. Errors become visible immediately, not just at export time.
- Multi-language support: The user interface and data output must support at least German and English. For internationally positioned manufacturers, this is indispensable.
- Export formats: Schema-valid JSON (validated against DIN SPEC 99100), professional PDF documents, and QR code generation: every battery passport software should support at least these three formats.
- API for system integration: A REST API through which existing systems such as ERP, PLM, or MES can transfer data directly to the battery passport software, per individual product or via bulk import.
- Team collaboration: Role-based access control so that different departments can work on their respective data areas without accidentally overwriting other teams' data.
DPP Hero as a specialized creation and management tool for battery passports provides these capabilities in an integrated platform, from guided data entry and field validation to export as JSON, PDF, and QR code.
The point where a spreadsheet finally stops: one passport per unit
Most spreadsheets are built around models, one row per product. The battery passport works differently. Article 77(1) requires that “each LMT battery, industrial battery with a capacity greater than 2 kWh and electric vehicle battery placed on the market or put into service shall have an electronic record”. Not each model, each battery.
Annex XIII shows what that means in practice. Point 1 describes the model, and nothing there differs between two units. Point 4 describes the individual battery: performance values when placed on the market and at every change of status, state of health, status, usage data. If you build 5,000 packs of one model, you need 5,000 passports with a shared model basis and individual histories. A spreadsheet with 5,000 rows would still be the smaller problem; it becomes unsolvable once each row needs its own public address, its own QR code and its own change history.
For tool selection that means: do not ask whether data can be captured, ask whether thousands of individual passports can be generated from one model template, each with its own identifier, and whether those identifiers can be found again in the stock.
Identifier and address: two requirements you cannot invent yourself
The regulation does not leave the identifier to taste. Article 77(3) provides that the passport “shall be accessible through the QR code referred to in Article 13(6), which shall be linked to a unique identifier assigned to the battery by the economic operator placing it on the market”. And further: “The QR code and the unique identifier shall comply with ISO 15459-1:2014, 15459-2:2015, 15459-3:2014, 15459-4:2014, 15459-5:2014 and 15459-6:2014 standards or equivalent standards.” A number you made up in a spreadsheet does not meet that.
In practice this leads to the GS1 system, because its identifiers implement exactly that series: the GTIN for the model, the serial number for the unit, combined into a resolvable address in GS1 Digital Link format. The advantage is not the name but the verifiability: a GTIN has a check digit, an invented number does not.
Where the address points, and for how long
A QR code on a battery lives as long as the battery, and for stationary storage that quickly means ten years or more. Article 78(e) expressly requires the passport to remain available “even if the economic operator responsible ... ceases to exist or ceases its activity in the Union”. Point (c) makes clear that the data sits with the economic operator or with operators acting on its behalf; there is no central EU database for the content.
For selection that means two things. First, the address behind the code has to stay stable for years, including through a change of provider, so ask about your own domain and about a complete export. Second, where the data sits is a decision with consequences. Hosting in the EU simplifies the processing agreement under the General Data Protection Regulation, and it keeps responsibility where the supervision sits.
The Transition in 5 Steps
Switching from spreadsheets to professional battery passport software does not have to be a disruptive project. With a structured approach, the transition can be managed step by step and in a controlled manner:
Step 1: Inventory Assessment
Before introducing a new tool, you need to know where your data currently resides. Conduct a systematic inventory: which battery-relevant data is in your ERP system? Which in PLM or MES? What comes directly from suppliers as PDF or Excel? And which data exists only as informal knowledge in your employees' heads? This overview forms the foundation for all subsequent steps.
Step 2: Gap Analysis
Systematically compare your data inventory against the requirements of DIN SPEC 99100. For each of the seven data categories (identification, materials, carbon footprint, due diligence, circularity, performance, labeling), identify: which mandatory fields can you already fill today? Which fields are completely missing? And which data exists but not in the correct format or at the required level of granularity?
Step 3: Tool Selection
Evaluate the available options: in-house development, SaaS tool, or a hybrid solution. In your assessment, consider not only features (see the section above) but also factors such as time-to-value, ongoing maintenance costs, scalability, and the ability to integrate with existing systems via API. For most mid-sized companies, a specialized SaaS tool offers the best balance of speed and cost.
Step 4: Data Migration
Transfer your existing data to the new software. This includes importing from existing Excel files, cleaning up inconsistent data, adapting formats and units, and validating against the DIN SPEC 99100 schema. Professional battery passport software supports you in this process through import assistants and automatic validation.
Step 5: Process Integration
The final and most important long-term step: integrate battery passport creation into your existing workflows. Connect the software to your ERP and PLM systems via the API. Define which department is responsible for which data category. And train your team so that data entry is correct and efficient from the start. Only then does the battery passport become a normal part of your product development process rather than a retroactive additional effort. A concise overview of all preparation steps can be found in our Battery Passport Checklist for 2027.
Costs and Effort
The cost question is the first discussion point for many companies. A clear-eyed comparison of the three most common approaches:
DIY with Excel: Appears free at first glance, but the hidden costs are substantial. Manual effort for data cleaning, lack of validation leads to errors that are discovered late, and export to regulatory-required formats requires additional development. Add to that the compliance risk: if a flawed battery passport jeopardizes market access, the consequential costs exceed any software budget.
In-house development: Offers maximum control, but you build and maintain the data model, the validation, the export formats and the QR delivery yourself. How long that takes and what it costs depends entirely on your scope and your existing technical infrastructure, so we do not quote a general figure here. On top of that come ongoing maintenance costs, adaptations when the specification changes, and the need to build and retain internal expertise.
SaaS tool: Monthly subscription costs, but immediate readiness, typically within days rather than months. Updates when the specification changes are included in the service, as is technical support. For most companies, this is the most economical path, particularly in the initial phase.
The real cost question, however, is a different one: what does it cost not to have a valid battery passport? From February 2027, affected batteries without a battery passport can no longer be placed on the EU market. The loss of market access, potential fines, and reputational damage far exceed the investment in a professional solution.
Access is not team permissions: the Regulation's three tiers
In Excel you handle access through file sharing inside your own company. The battery passport uses a different split, and it sits in Annex XIII. Point 1 lists the battery model data that is publicly accessible, including material composition, carbon footprint figures, recycled content and rated capacity. The further points hold data open only to persons with a legitimate interest and the Commission, such as dismantling information and detailed composition data. On top of that come the market surveillance authorities, who access it in a check.
For tool selection this means: software that only distinguishes “internal” from “published” does not model the Regulation. You need the field level, that is, a decision per data point about who sees it. Which data sits on which tier is set out in the article on access rights in the battery passport.
Data portability: what moves with you when you switch vendors
Moving off Excel is the one switch you are planning. A second one may follow later, which makes one question worth asking before you choose: can you get your data out in full, at any time? Check three things concretely. First, whether you can export the data set as a structured file, not just as a screen view. Second, whether the address behind the QR code belongs to you; otherwise printed labels point nowhere after a switch. Third, whether published passports stay reachable as long as the batteries are in the field.
Together these are the three questions that decide whether you end up in vendor lock-in. They cost nothing when asked before the decision and a great deal when asked afterwards. With DPP Hero the passport addresses run on your own domain if you want that, and the data set can be exported as a file.
The migration path out of Excel, step by step
Migrations rarely fail on the tool and often on the order of steps. What works: first create a single battery by hand, in full, so you see which fields your spreadsheet does not carry at all. Then load the rest through CSV import instead of typing on. After that, a serialization trial run with a small batch, so you experience handling serial numbers at real volume.
Step four is the one people skip and the most important: print a QR code on a real label and scan it with an ordinary phone, in that light and on the surface you will actually use. Only then run the bulk output for the whole series. Do this test shortly before series start and there is no time left to change the label.
Collecting supplier data without sorting mail attachments
Recycled content shares, material composition and sourcing rarely come from inside your own company. In the Excel world that means mails out, spreadsheets back, versions merged by hand. This is where most of the time goes, and the most common reason for figures whose origin nobody can evidence later.
Passport software should therefore let the supplier enter data directly, through a link to exactly the section they contribute, without an account and without access to your other data. In DPP Hero that is the share link: self-service access to exactly the section the supplier contributes. Every submission through it lands in the organization audit log, so it is readable later as an audit trail. Automatic reminders to suppliers do not exist there today; following up stays with you. What counts is not convenience but traceability: who entered which value and when, and whether that answer is still on file when a verifying body asks.
FAQ
Can I import my existing Excel data?
Generally yes. Professional battery passport software offers import functions for structured data from spreadsheets. However, the import requires mapping your existing columns to the fields of DIN SPEC 99100, and often data cleaning and format adjustments. The more structured and consistent your existing spreadsheets are, the smoother the migration will be. DPP Hero supports data import and assists you with mapping and validation.
How long does the transition take?
That depends on the maturity of your existing data. If you already have well-structured data in your systems, the first complete battery passport can be created in a SaaS solution within a few days. If data first needs to be collected, cleaned, and supplemented (particularly supply chain data from suppliers), the entire process can take several weeks. The tool selection and setup itself is typically completed in one to two days.
Do I need IT skills for battery passport software?
No. Good battery passport software is designed so that specialist departments (product development, quality management, sustainability) can enter data without IT support. Guided data entry in clearly structured steps, understandable field descriptions, and automatic validation make the operation intuitive. IT skills only become relevant when you want to implement an API integration with your existing systems, and even then most providers offer documentation and support.
