The European Union has announced new regulations, which will require replaceable batteries in all portable electronics sold in the EU, including handheld gaming consoles. The new regulations would be applicable on range of devices sold in EU from 2027, according to a news report by the Eurogamer.
According to the regulations by the Council of the European Union, the batteries will need to be easily replaceable so that users can proceed without any specialised tools. The regulation aims to reduce “the environmental and social impacts throughout the lifecycle of the battery.” It also seeks to introduce new regulations aimed at the increase of recycling of batteries.
According to the published document, a portable battery shall be considered readily removable where it can be “removed from a product with the use of commercially available tools, without requiring the use of specialised tools, unless provided free of charge with the product”
It is doubtful that the next generations of the Nintendo Switch or the ROG Ally will be seeing any major changes in their hardware as the new regulations will go into effect in 2027. The EU law is likely to be welcomed by gamers as most gaming handhelds at the current moment do not allow battery replacements without voiding the warranty.
The new regulation will likely impact gaming handhelds worldwide when it takes effect although the new law will apply to EU countries alone. It would be costly to release two different versions for the EU and the rest of the world as providing replaceable batteries will likely require major hardware changes.
As portable batteries will be easier to replace and recycle, the EU wants “portable batteries incorporated into appliances should be removable and replaceable by the end-user”. The regulation also states that the 2027 timeframe gives “sufficient time for operators to adapt the design of their products to this requirement”.
Teresa Ribera, Spanish minister for the ecological transition, said batteries are key to the decarbonisation process and the EU’s shift towards zero-emission modes of transport.
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