New EU Battery Directive: TUXEDO never had glued in batteries - TUXEDO Computers

The EU Parliament passed a revision of existing rules on batteries and spent batteries with an overwhelming majority of 587 votes in favor and only nine against. In a press release, the EU Parliament said the new legislation will “take into account technological developments and future challenges in the sector and will cover the entire battery life cycle, from design to end-of-life.”

EU adopts new battery directive

The updated regulations are based on an agreement with the Council of Europe, based on a proposal from December 2022 – we had already reported. They take into account both environmental factors and consumer protection, especially with regard to the replacement of accumulators and batteries.

Designing portable batteries in appliances in such a way that consumers can themselves easily remove and replace them;

For example, the regulation means the final end for permanently installed batteries. In the future, portable devices must be designed so that consumers can easily remove and replace the included batteries. A battery is considered “easily removable” if it can be removed without special tools, heat energy or solvents. Tightly sealed and glued in batteries in technical devices may no longer exist in the future – with a few exceptions, such as for medical devices.

The new directive will come into force in three and a half years. At TUXEDO, we are already ready today. To be more precise: We don’t have to make any major changes. What the EU Battery Directive requires has always been a matter of course for us.

Replaceable batteries on all TUXEDO notebooks

We at TUXEDO believe that such a regulation was long overdue. We strictly reject the concept of planned obsolescence. We are happy if our notebooks and computers still work reliably after several years. Our TUXEDO OS operating system, which is built on the Linux kernel, supports all our TUXEDO computers as long as it is technically possible. We do not implement locked bootloaders. If you are not satisfied with our operating system, you are free to explore the world of free operating systems.

At TUXEDO, we do not use tightly sealed housings and permanently installed batteries. Specially shaped screws that can only be loosened with special tools are not found in TUXEDO products. Instructions for opening the backplate can be found in our FAQ collection. Customers who buy a TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 13/14 (up to Gen5) can also access a video demonstration on how to open the device. By the way: Opening the backplate, e.g. to clean the fan, does not void the warranty for TUXEDO computers. The exact details about this can be found in our Warranty conditions.