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Power EU Hardware Technology

'Easily' Replaceable Batteries May Soon Be Required By EU Law (9to5mac.com) 192

Posted by BeauHD from the what-to-expect dept.
b0s0z0ku writes: The European Union is proposing a law requiring easily replaceable batteries in new appliances and portable electronic devices. The law also sets targets for collection and recycling of those batteries, requiring 73% compliance by 2030. "Companies would get plenty of notice, however, as the requirement would only come into force 3.5 years after the legislation takes effect," adds 9to5Mac. "Companies will also be legally required to accept and recycle old batteries."

Additionally, the European Commission is "expected to consider outlawing the use of non-rechargeable portable batteries," though this would likely come with many exceptions and wouldn't happen before the end of the decade.

Further reading: EU Sets December 28, 2024, Deadline For All New Phones To Use USB-C for Wired Charging
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'Easily' Replaceable Batteries May Soon Be Required By EU Law More

'Easily' Replaceable Batteries May Soon Be Required By EU Law

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  • About time (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jwhyche ( 6192 ) on Thursday December 22, 2022 @10:16PM (#63151850) Homepage

    About damn time someone did this.

    • Re:About time (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Thursday December 22, 2022 @11:21PM (#63151952)

      Indeed. Personally, I regard non-replaceable batteries (or ones that need a lot of work to replace them) as an absolute no-go, but it does seriously limit what you can buy in some device-classes like mobile phones.

      • Re:About time (Score:4, Informative)

        by zeeky boogy doog ( 8381659 ) on Friday December 23, 2022 @04:50AM (#63152358)
        It sucks. But bottom line (from the mfg's perspective), "you idiots wanted it to have zero bezel, be only slightly thicker than four stacked quarters, be 6 inches diagonally and still remain stiff, while every available cubic millimeter is packed with battery. What the fuck were you expecting other than to have it glued together?"

        It would be extremely difficult to build a case as thin as even my aged LG G7 is that has a rear hatch for the battery, while maintaining acceptable torsion/flexion stiffness, without inserting solid metal bracing into the case to stiffen it, which brings all kinds of other problems. Plus, having to have a plastic sheet on both sides of the battery to form the compartment equals a nontrivial loss of battery volume.

        Man, let me tell you, changing the battery on my ThinQ sucked ass...

        • Re:About time (Score:5, Insightful)

          by OolimPhon ( 1120895 ) on Friday December 23, 2022 @06:35AM (#63152502)

          "The idiot Marketing Department wanted it to have zero bezel, be only slightly thicker than four stacked quarters, be 6 inches diagonally and still remain stiff, while every available cubic millimeter is packed with battery because it's on all the time tracking your every move. What the fuck were you expecting other than to have it glued together?"

          FTFY.

          • Wish I had mod points, this is exactly it. I don't want a phone so thin it bends if I sit down with it in my pocket, I want a solid damage-resistant slab that happens to also contain a battery that'll run for more than a few hours between charges.

            • Wish I had mod points, this is exactly it. I don't want a phone so thin it bends if I sit down with it in my pocket, I want a solid damage-resistant slab that happens to also contain a battery that'll run for more than a few hours between charges.

              I'm happy with the shape/thickness of my current iPhone (12 I think I have)....

              I don't want it any bigger or thicker...and my battery lasts easily all day. between charges. I only plug mine in at night when I go to sleep.

              Does your phone not currently last that l

              • Mine lasts about three days between charges, possibly four, but it's also the damage resistant slab I referred to. I was commenting on a lot of the other phones out there.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by haruchai ( 17472 )

          Wasn't the consumers who wanted all those things. Those idiots just wanted a better phone that lasted longer.

          • Wasn't the consumers who wanted all those things. Those idiots just wanted a better phone that lasted longer.

            It could be argued that the phone marketing departments needed something different in the next generation to drive sales, resulting in thinner phones with glued in batteries. The same marketing departments could have their cake and eat it too by promoting replaceable batteries in the new next generation. Since those battery-replaceable phone don't exist anymore, restoring this feature will drive more sales.

        • Sorry, no, that's marketing BS. There's no reason a hinge wouldn't fit inside the current iPhone design, for example, with the flex cables cleanly run and aligned to facilitate opening the device like a book. They could also use easily removable (and detachable at both ends) flex cables inside rather than having essential components soldered to one end or the other.

          Same for adhering the battery with fragile-but-extremely-adhesive "removable" strips. With as little free space as there is, you don't even n

      • Quote: " but it does seriously limit what you can buy in some device-classes like mobile phones."

        And your proof of the veracity of such statement lies in... the manufacturer?

        Easy batteries present no limit in gadget whatsoever for being "accesible", au contraire, because they are a source of heat, not being sandwiched between circuitry allows them to receive less heat, thus improving the stability of the system.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          What are you talking about? Have you tried finding a phone with a user-replaceable battery recently?

      • Yeah. I used to buy phones taking into account whether the battery was replaceable. The problem is that almost no one makes those anymore.
        Yes, the phone will be a bit larger (not much) but I'm happy to make that tradeoff.
        I'm not even much of an environmentalist but I hate waste and throwing away working stuff so even the things that take regular batteries (AA or AAAs) I use them with rechargeables.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          I got a Fairphone 4 for that reason. As long as you do not mistake a phone for a high-performance gaming machine, this is a very nice phone and you get replacement parts for basically everything.

    • Re:About time (Score:5, Informative)

      by rally2xs ( 1093023 ) on Thursday December 22, 2022 @11:38PM (#63151988)

      Yeppir! I got a heart rate monitor strap that had an embedded battery that rapidly got weak enough it wouldn't make the trip to my Schwinn exercycle. I found that there was something about melting glue in order to separate some halves, and I just bought a different one. Too much trouble to do that sort of nonsense.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Worth noting that in many EU countries, a prematurely aged battery would be a warranty issue. In the UK goods most last a "reasonable length of time", and if it needs a battery and the battery is not replaceable, then it needs to last as long as you would reasonably expect the device to.

      • You think that's bad? A long time ago I bought an MP3 player that took a single AAA battery, specifically because I didn't want it to die when some built-in lithium battery wore out. As it turns out, there was a hidden button cell inside that stored some internal data, and when that button cell died, the player was bricked. Even though the "main" battery was replaceable, the device was still specifically built to fail after a year or two!

      • I found that there was something about melting glue in order to separate some halves, and I just bought a different one.

        Oh I know all about those. That sounds like 2 minutes worth of work, or if you're that desperate not to do it yourself you could have taken it to any electronics cornershop and have them do it.

        But congrats on buying a new one and putting the old one in a landfill.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by haruchai ( 17472 )

      About damn time someone did this.

      Agreed. Thought this was a headline from 2012

    • Re:About time (Score:4, Insightful)

      by smoot123 ( 1027084 ) on Friday December 23, 2022 @12:15PM (#63153144)

      About damn time someone did this.

      Personally, I'd prefer they mandated batteries which lasted at least five years of normal usage. I'm usually ready to toss the phone for lots of other reasons by then.

      But even more, I'd prefer they butted out and let companies and consumers negotiate whether they want replaceable batteries. I personally don't miss them. And I can see this backfiring: if batteries are easily swapped out, companies have less incentive to make them durable. I may wind up having to buy two or three batteries over the same five year phone lifetime and we wind up with more batteries in landfills.

      If they really want to deal with batteries winding up in landfills, and I'm skeptical this is the most important problem for Europe to solve, mandate that: that batteries must be recycled. Or set a fee for discarding batteries (sort of like a carbon tax). Let customers and companies figure out the best way to deal.

  • The sooner the better! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ichijo ( 607641 ) on Thursday December 22, 2022 @10:17PM (#63151852) Journal

    It's annoying that I can't buy a pair of wireless noise canceling headphones with a user replaceable battery. So whatever I buy has built-in planned obsolescence, which means electronic waste a few years from now. It's like DRM in a slightly different form.

    • I don't see why not. I did.

    • So whatever I buy has built-in planned obsolescence, which means electronic waste a few years from now. It's like DRM in a slightly different form.

      No. The inability for end user ham-fist to repair something is not a form of obsolescence or DRM, and I've never seen a set of noise cancelling headphones where the battery wasn't replaceable, ... by some 13 year old with some basic tools which are often included in the sale of the battery.

      Your incapability or your desire to not put any effort into something doesn't make it DRM or planned obsolescence.

  • So... EVs? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Arethan ( 223197 ) on Thursday December 22, 2022 @10:20PM (#63151856) Journal

    portable electronic devices

    So, like, EVs, right? I mean, they drive around, right? So, portable I think, no?

    • So, like, EVs, right? I mean, they drive around, right? So, portable I think, no?

      You can carry your EV? You must be the Hulk or Superman.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      EV batteries are not hard to replace in most cars. Obviously you need to know what you are doing, there are 400-800V there and a lot of amps. The actual mechanics of replacing the battery aren't bad compared to other car maintenance in many vehicles.

      What we really need is easily serviceable batteries. A dead cell or two should be replaceable.

    • No. Unless you can pick it up and carry it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      That's "mobile", not "portable".

      Mobile means it can move/be moved about. Portable means you can carry it. So the joke was that the Navy called anything you could carry around in a battleship portable. (Well, that's an old joke, of course.)

  • Sounds good. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kernel Kurtz ( 182424 ) on Thursday December 22, 2022 @10:33PM (#63151878)
    This is far more useful legislation than requiring USB-C as a charging standard. That mandate only saves a bunch of charging cables and adapters. This one saves actual whole electronic devices from becoming waste as quickly as they currently do.

    I expect it will probably draw even more complaints, though. Shiny toys just won't be as shiny with either USB-C or replaceable batteries, and many vain people will be sad with less shiny.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Xenx ( 2211586 )

      This one saves actual whole electronic devices from becoming waste as quickly as they currently do.

      That is an embellishment. The only reason it isn't wrong is because you didn't actually quantify how many devices are saved. The reality is that the battery usually outlives the device for most users. Most will be damaged/lost/replaced before the battery becomes a concern.

      I am one of those people that prefers the current phone designs over the ones from when batteries were removable. I am not so far removed that I won't accept going back to removable batteries, it's just my preference. That said, the non-r

    • This is far more useful legislation than requiring USB-C as a charging standard.

      No it's not. There's not a single device I own be that a Surface Pro, glued together phone, or smartwatch where I don't currently feel comfortable replacing the battery. Additionally every battery sold for such devices often is available as a kit with any tools needed to disassemble.

      On the flip side requiring a portable device to accept USB PD via a USB-C receptacle is really no different then requiring a fixed device to accept 220V 50Hz and have one of the IEC sockets included. There's technical reasons ba

  • To elaborate: Recycling isn't good enough, so forcing technology that's at least more than single-use is a good thing. So is accompanying that with enforced recycling.

    We'll live with slightly fatter phones with slightly less battery life. Really, you'll survive somehow. And even though you'll never notice or understand why you should appreciate it, you won't be living near a bigger midden of toxic sludge than you already are.

    It's a fairly nice planet, we ought not to do things that shorten the remaining

    • Or maybe different options as far as battery life depending on need. Remember phones where the battery basically was the back cover -- you could get aftermarket batteries with insane capacity, like 10,000mAh, at the cost of the phone being twice as thick?
  • I hated the EU for implementing RoHS standards, but USB standardization and replaceable batteries is awesome. Keep it up EU, you are doing more for consumer rights than anybody else is.

    • I hated the EU for implementing RoHS standards,

      Good grief, why? It's not like you can't get leaded solder if you need it commercially, and certainly for small scale use.

      Personally, I've given up on leaded solder almost entirely. I do miss the lovely shiny results you get with lead, but that's a small price to pay. And it's not like you can see that on the underside of an .5mm pitch LGA-16 anyway...

    • Why? RoHS is one of the best pieces of legislation ever. Sure it forced the industry to change and change is often inconvenient, but as an end result modern technology is objectively better.

  • Limiting charging? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by whoever57 ( 658626 ) on Thursday December 22, 2022 @11:10PM (#63151942) Journal

    How about a requirement for the phone that allows the user to limit the charging to 90% or some other value? This would extend battery life. Most people don't need 100% charge every time.

    Some phones already support this, why not all? There are external devices one can buy to do this, but the best solution is a setting on the phone (along with the necessary hardware changes) to limit charging.

    • How about both?

    • 80 or 90% charge should really be the default, with anything above that requiring you to hit a button for Overcharge when you plug it in. You could even change the scale so that 100% charge now displays as 120% charge, so (for example) Apple users who need to be mentally manipulated a little bit could be sold on it as a hot new super-battery-life feature.

    • Don't most phones already do this?

      • Good question. Is the indicated 100% charge really 100%, or is it 100% of 80%?

        Supposedly the MacBook Air only charges to 80% unless you have an appointment scheduled, but since there is nearly always an appointment scheduled does it ever stop at 80%? I've never seen it stop charging at 80%.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      You can buy a Bluetooth thing that lets you do that. Last time I looked they were 20 bucks, well worth it.

    • How about a requirement for the phone that allows the user to limit the charging to 90% or some other value? This would extend battery life. Most people don't need 100% charge every time.

      No it wouldn't. Your post is a throwback to the first smartphones and to cheap Chinese shit. The over whelming majority of devices on the market do not actually charge a battery to 100%, they just flash a pretty 100% icon at the user to let them know it won't charge any further that it already is.

      You think you're solving a problem that in the background has already been considered and taken care of, and it's one of the reasons cheap Chinese shit still has batteries that appear to die in very short order. Bu

  • I can support this (Score:3)

    by Crashmarik ( 635988 ) on Friday December 23, 2022 @12:04AM (#63152050)

    After having 2 samsung phones killed by battery bloat

  • Why not tax? (Score:3)

    by u19925 ( 613350 ) on Friday December 23, 2022 @12:05AM (#63152052)

    Charge tax for devices with non-replaceable batteries. Start at minimum 5 Euros and increase based on battery capacity. Same for proprietary batteries. Either use one of the approved standard ones or pay tax. Do even same for car. Very soon we will see standardization of various batteries from automobile to e-scooter to laptop, vacuum cleaners, and all other devices.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Charge tax for devices with non-replaceable batteries. Start at minimum 5 Euros and increase based on battery capacity. Same for proprietary batteries. Either use one of the approved standard ones or pay tax. Do even same for car. Very soon we will see standardization of various batteries from automobile to e-scooter to laptop, vacuum cleaners, and all other devices.

      Because that would do fuck all against e-waste.

      A lot of perfectly good phones and other electronics get thrown out because the battery can't hold a decent charge any more. I sense you're an American (that's an observation, not an attack), The EU has a lot of poorer areas in it so if a phone can be refurbished and reused then we've reduced the amount of waste and probably saved a few Euro for those who can use every spare Euro they can (and maybe, just maybe improved their QOL a bit). American waste often

  • Tired of filling up dumps with Apple and Bose products.

  • Phones, tablets, and other portable computing devices, including smart watches, have become "powerful enough" for lots of consumers. Even when reading or listening to reviewers who are enthusiasts, and who make a living off of new product roll-outs, you can often get the impression that they aren't wowed as much as they used to be by the yearly upgrade.

    And even for hardcore enthusiasts there is still going to be a desire to be able to gift their three year old device to someone, and know that they or the pe

  • For me, the smartphones went through a phase when I kept thinking that they were slow and underpowered. But now, with my iphone 13 pro max, I no longer have any performance complaints. It is plenty fast enough for my smartphone needs. I'll likely use this phone until the battery dies or degrades to an unusable level.
  • While I think it's a good idea, it will all depend on how the regulations are worded - that will be the hard part. Is taking your iPhone to Apple an paying a $100 for a new battery considered "easy"? What constitutes a battery? Can Google call Pixel phone "a battery" for the case it's in (since you really cannot define a battery as just the Li-ion pouch without any electronics which make it safe to handle).

    Personally, I think a better initiative would be to make the companies responsible for the e-waste t

    • Make it worth while for people to return the electronics to e-waste centers and charge each manufacturer based on how much useful life the electronic customer device got out of it.

      This will just be added to the price.

      Every iPhone that finds it's way to a landfill is taxed based on its age, creating an incentive for manufacturers to make their products last longer in the marketplace.

      Depending on how that is implemented, Apple could just store the returned phones in a warehouse for a while and then dump them ("well, we tried, nobody wanted to buy them etc"). This is a company that puts deliberate effort into making the phones harder to repair (R&D for battery, screen etc DRM costs money).

    • Is taking your iPhone to Apple an paying a $100 for a new battery considered "easy"?

      I just checked....battery replacements for iPhones are more like $69.

      That's no big deal....I mean, so far, my iPhone batteries last easily 5-6 years.

      So, yes, I'd consider this easy.

  • If you are going to do this, go ALL IN. Make all batteries standardized. This means if my phone's battery breaks down in 3 years, it's a standard type battery and I can go literally anywhere and buy a new one, like an AA cell or a CR2032 cell, etc.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DrXym ( 126579 )
      And ban DRM too. Standard sized batteries that may have a communication protocol to relay their capacity, health, charge rates etc., but CANNOT lock themselves to a phone or manufacturer.
    • You don't really need your phone battery to be available at nearest corner store shelf, you can order it off internet no problem. The only thing is that there needs to be no software lock preventing you from replacing the battery yourself.
  • Nice move (planned obsolescence stinks)
  • A device could have an easy to replace battery but the battery cost could make it uneconomical to replace it.
  • Even my cheap Motos finally went to non-replaceable ... hopefully this will turn back the clock on that.

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