Please describe your proposed solution
Unbox, in collaboration with the world leading Battery Innovation Center (BIC) and the largest industrial battery manufacturer in world, Enersys. Propose to further develop our innovative Battery Passport that leverages Cardano's blockchain technology to create on-chain digital passports for batteries at Enersys with Zero Knowledge Technology to overcome challenges in secure data sharing, transparency, compliance, and management of Batteries. This platform will utilize Unbox's Smart Tokens to bridge the physical and digital worlds, embedding essential values like transparency, sustainability, and security into each battery's digital identity.
Our collaboration with Enersys and BIC started with a proof of concept that Unbox created and we are going to be leveraging our past work to make the Smart Battery Passport solution scaleable and work seamlessly on the Cardano blockchain.
Dumb vs Smart Battery Passport
The Unbox Smart Battery Passport revolutionizes traditional battery passports, moving beyond static data to create a dynamic, interactive experience. By integrating smart data, this passport provides enhanced transparency, security, and deeper insights into each battery’s lifecycle—from its "birth certificate" at the beginning of its journey to its eventual end-of-life. It sets a new standard for battery management, making each battery a responsive, intelligent asset.
By binding physical assets to their digital counterparts, batteries become digitally native. The Unbox Smart Asset passport unlocks new capabilities for interaction with the battery, enabling two-way communication. Through this digital passport, stakeholders can ask the battery key questions or provide essential feedback, fostering a responsive and intelligent asset lifecycle. The passport can be securely shared with auditors or other stakeholders along predefined routes, enhancing accountability and aligning with the needs of a digitally native economy.
Unbox Batteries Dashboard:
Unbox Batteries Wallet:
Battery Passport Regulation:
The significance of the Battery Passport project is greatly amplified by upcoming regulatory mandates in the European Union. The EU has recently adopted a new Battery Regulation that requires all industrial and electric vehicle batteries placed on the EU market with a capacity above 2 kWh to have a digital battery passport by 2026. This regulation aims to improve sustainability and ensures responsible sourcing. Helping promote a circular economy by enhancing transparency throughout the battery's lifecycle. The digital battery passports need to contain detailed information about the battery's origin, chemistry, manufacturing history, and performance.
- EU Battery Passport Regulation: <https://www.batterytechonline.com/industry-outlook/understanding-the-eu-s-digital-battery-passport>
- Battery Passport in EU Vehicles: <https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/electric-cars/battery-passports>
This regulatory development underscores the urgent need for manufacturers to adopt compliant battery passport solutions. Our Battery Passport is perfectly positioned to meet this demand, offering a scalable, secure, and efficient system that aligns with these new EU regulations. By integrating Unbox’s solution, manufacturers can seamlessly comply with legal requirements.
Enersys, BIC, and Unbox unlock the ability to bring real-world assets onto the Cardano blockchain and introduce a powerful use case for the technology. It enables comprehensive tracking and tracing of all elements connected with a battery, from production to end-of-life recycling.
This not only demonstrates the versatility and robustness of the Cardano blockchain but also promotes broader industry adoption of blockchain solutions for sustainability and accountability.
As more regions adopt similar regulations, our Battery Passport can be adopted by a wide range of manufacturers globally, further extending the impact and utility of Cardano in real-world applications.
Key Components:
Digital twin: The unbreakable bond between digital and physical asset
- Creates a unique, tamper-proof digital representation of each physical asset, enabling accurate tracking and monitoring throughout its lifecycle.
- Establishes a persistent digital identity for each asset, ensuring authenticity and traceability within the supply chain.
Cryptographic identifiers: Establishing cryptographic lineage and identification of assets and stakeholders
- Leverages self-sovereign identities and cryptographic lineage to verify each asset’s history, tracking its origins, handlers, and changes over time.
- Enables secure, decentralized identity management for assets, ensuring that each interaction is verifiable and logged, promoting trust and accountability.
Zero knowledge cryptography: creating transparent and Secure bi-directional communication channels
- Utilizes privacy-preserving cryptographic methods to enable secure data exchanges, allowing stakeholders to verify asset information without revealing sensitive details.
- Ensures confidential data insights so stakeholders can access relevant information without compromising data integrity or confidentiality.
Unbox Smart asset passport: achieving seamless asset and stakeholder management through smart ownership
- Represents ownership and access rights in a programmable, tokenized format, facilitating interactions with external systems for activities such as escrow and exchange.
- Integrates token-gated access for authorized stakeholders, enabling efficient asset management, data visibility, and seamless transactions aligned with Web3 principles.
Integrating Zero-Knowledge Technology, ZK cryptography, or Multi-Party-Computation into Battery Passports:
To enhance privacy, security, and the attractiveness of our Battery Passports, Unbox will embark on a dedicated research and development initiative to integrate ZK cryptography or Multi-Party Computation (MPC) technology into our existing tools and products. Battery manufacturers are reluctant to share sensitive data with competitors, as they want to retain control over proprietary information. ZK cryptography or MPC, cutting-edge cryptographic protocols, allows parties to collaboratively compute necessary functions while keeping their inputs private. This ensures that manufacturers can share essential lifecycle data for compliance and transparency without revealing trade secrets or competitive information.
Unbox Web3 Approach to Smart Battery Passports:
Our approach decentralizes battery passport data, utilizing privacy-preserving cryptography to enable secure, zero-knowledge validation of operations. The digital twin serves as a verifiable representation, ensuring that each stakeholder's interactions with the asset are transparent and accountable without exposing sensitive information. If any stakeholder attempts to tamper with or misuse the digital twin, their actions can be detected and, if necessary, pursued with real-world legal enforcement—adding a layer of trust and compliance to the digitally native asset ecosystem.
Why This Solution Matters:
The battery industry is at a critical point, facing significant challenges in tracking ownership, monitoring lifecycle stages, and ensuring proper recycling and disposal. With the European Union's recent adoption of new Battery Regulations requiring that by 2026, all industrial and electric vehicle batteries placed on the EU market must have a digital battery passport. There is an urgent need for a standardized, compliant solution.
Our Battery Passport directly addresses this pressing industry need by providing a scalable, secure, and efficient system built on Cardano's blockchain. By utilizing blockchain technology, we offer manufacturers a compliant solution that not only meets the new regulatory requirements but also enhances supply chain transparency and operational efficiency.
The potential impact of our solution extends far beyond regulatory compliance. By enabling comprehensive tracking and tracing of all elements connected with a battery from production to end-of-life recycling, we bring a new class of real-world assets onto the Cardano blockchain.