Circunomics white paper finds qualification – not supply – is preventing Europe’s battery market from reaching its full potential and reveals billions sits idle in stranded battery capacity due to missing data.
Europe does not have a battery shortage. It has a qualification and visibility problem.
That is the headline finding from a new white paper published by Circunomics, which reveals that large volumes of battery capacity are sitting unused across Europe – not because the batteries have reached the end of their lives, but because buyers cannot verify their condition, provenance or compliance.
The report, Stranded Capacity: How Data Turns Europe’s Idle Battery Inventory into a Tradable Market, argues that Europe’s rapidly expanding battery economy is increasingly constrained by missing data rather than manufacturing capacity, creating a growing pool of “stranded” battery assets that could otherwise be deployed in energy storage projects or traded through secondary markets.
As electric vehicle production scales and battery energy storage demand continues to grow, surplus batteries from automotive manufacturers, used EV packs and stored inventory are accumulating throughout the supply chain. Yet without verified information on battery health, ownership history, testing and regulatory compliance, these assets are effectively invisible to buyers.
“Inventory provides the volume, but proof moves the market,” the report states, arguing that qualification has become the single biggest bottleneck in Europe’s circular battery economy.
Circunomics estimates that if just 1-5% of Europe’s installed battery storage capacity is delayed by documentation, qualification or deployment bottlenecks, between 0.8GWh and 3.9GWh of battery capacity could be stranded at any given time. At benchmark battery prices, 1GWh represents around US$115 million in pack value before qualification and warranty considerations are applied.
The white paper identifies two fast-growing opportunities within the secondary battery market: Second-Chance (2C) batteries – unused or surplus batteries from OEM inventories – and Second-Life (2L) batteries recovered from electric vehicles for stationary energy storage systems. While both represent significant commercial opportunities, the report concludes that success increasingly depends on trusted data rather than battery chemistry alone.
As global battery prices continue to fall, the economics of reuse are changing. Buyers are no longer simply looking for lower-cost batteries – they are looking for batteries that can be qualified quickly, financed confidently and deployed with minimal risk. According to the report, delays caused by incomplete documentation, missing Battery Management System data or uncertain liability can erase much of the commercial advantage of second-life batteries.
The report also argues that the EU Battery Regulation will fundamentally reshape the market. From February 2027, qualifying batteries placed on the European market must include a Digital Battery Passport, creating a standardised record of battery identity, performance and lifecycle information. Rather than representing another compliance burden, Circunomics says the Digital Battery Passport should be viewed as the foundation of a transparent and investable secondary battery market.
For the millions of batteries already in circulation before the regulation takes effect, the company says the market needs practical evidence standards that can establish confidence even without a formal passport. Structured condition data, ownership records, diagnostics and compliance documentation can enable batteries to be assessed consistently and routed to their highest-value destination – whether direct resale, second-life deployment or recycling.
Circunomics says its marketplace has already demonstrated the commercial potential of this approach. Approximately 0.5GWh of battery capacity had been traded through the platform by the end of 2025, with traded volume expected to double to around 1GWh during 2026 as more OEMs, traders, developers and recyclers participate.
The report concludes that stranded battery capacity is not a technology problem but a market infrastructure problem – one that can be solved through better qualification, standardised data and trusted digital marketplaces.
As Europe’s battery economy enters its next phase of growth, the companies that can prove what their batteries are – not simply where they are – will be best positioned to unlock value from one of the industry’s largest untapped commercial opportunities.
