From Friction to Scale: Solving Cross-Border Battery Repair
Panel Discussion
At the New Mobility Congress in Katowice (23–25 September 2025), NOWOS Chief Impact Officer Alix Armour joined a panel on “Cross-Border Investments – battery reverse value chain and new mobility innovation.” The conversations reflected a maturing market: less hype, more operating detail. Below is a deeper dive on the two questions posed to Alix, and how they connect to NOWOS’s approach.
1) What’s the biggest cross-border challenge for scaling battery repair and reuse?
Three barriers dominate: Closed Ecosystem, Regulatory Complexity, and Confidence.
Closed ecosystem. Historically, OEMs have tightly controlled repair networks and diagnostic software, often for good reasons tied to safety and liability. But the side-effect is a slow, narrow pathway for legitimate independent repair, which limits circularity and keeps costs high for fleets and OEM after-sales teams. The remedy is not to lower the bar on safety; it’s to codify an OEM-grade repair standard that manufacturers trust and that can be applied consistently across borders.
Regulatory complexity. Move a lithium-ion battery across one border and you can encounter a thicket of requirements: ADR for transport of dangerous goods plus country-level rules and guidance that vary in practice. That variability injects delay, cost, and risk. The operational answer is local capacity with pan-EU logistics know-how. In other words, hubs that are fluent in compliance and configured for scale.
Confidence. Without data-backed processes and transparent quality control, buyers and insurers hesitate. Confidence is earned through outcomes (repair success rates, safe storage, compliant transport) and traceability that follows batteries through their lifecycle. This is precisely what the EU Battery Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1542) is driving: measurable performance, safety, and end-of-life management.
How NOWOS tackles them:
A single repair blueprint applied across our network (Netherlands, France, and next up: Poland) creates the consistency OEMs need to open up. In 2024, we achieved an 89% repair success rate with industrial capacity to process ~120,000 batteries/year, demonstrating that quality and scale can coexist.
Compliant logistics and storage: ADR-ready packaging and procedures, with safe, certified storage options integrated into the service.
A forthcoming battery passport will stitch the data layer together—health, usage, repair, and end-of-life pathways—and align with regulatory expectations to give partners the auditable trail they need.
Bottom line: Reduce complexity, build confidence, and open up the ecosystem. That’s the formula that turns cross-border friction into scalable throughput.
2) How can new business models attract international investment in battery circularity?
Investors are shifting from point solutions to system enablers.
Digital infrastructure that closes the trust gap. The winners will power the operating system of circularity: battery passports with verifiable data; analytics that quantify degradation, remaining useful life and carbon savings; and marketplaces that match verified used assets with qualified buyers. Capital is drawn to the scalable, asset-light margins of these platforms, and regulators are creating demand. The EU Battery Regulation requires lifecycle transparency and performance tracking, which is exactly the kind of governance a battery passport enables. In parallel, the EU’s Right to Repair initiative strengthens access to repair, parts, and information, further cementing repair over replacement and increasing the value of data-rich service networks. Member states will implement over the next two years, pulling the market toward repair-friendly models.
Physical infrastructure that converts policy into capacity. Digital rails are not enough; Europe needs more advanced, at-scale hubs for diagnostics, remanufacturing, and second-life integration. That means safe handling, compliant storage, high-throughput chains, and the ability to triage across chemistries and form factors. These are investable, cash-generating assets.
How NOWOS fits:
Hubs + Passport. Our roadmap combines physical scale with a digital traceability layer (battery passport), built to meet EU compliance and partner reporting needs.
Proof in operations. Beyond micromobility, we support energy storage and EV second-life projects, including sourcing/refurbishing EU modules for BESS pilots and validating and supplying second-life EV modules for integrators.
Scalable outcomes. With 89% repair success in 2024 and pan-EU logistics, we help OEMs and fleets avoid capex, reduce downtime, and cut CO₂ relative to replacement. These are impact metrics that align with investor and policy priorities.
Why this attracts capital:
System-level models reduce customer risk and regulatory exposure while improving asset economics. They are defensible (standards combined with data); repeatable (i.e. multi-market Standard Operating Procedures), and measurable (e.g. repair rate, CO₂ avoided, recycling efficiency). That’s the combination investors look for.
The New Mobility Congress delivered quality dialogue and clear momentum across policy, industry, and investment. We’re grateful to the organisers and fellow panellists for a standout 2025 edition and we’re excited to return in 2026 with more progress to share on hubs, our Battery Passport, market partnerships, and more!
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